Eduardo Escobar's Mets Career (2022-2023)

Eduardo Jose Escobar was born on January 5th, 1989, in Villa de Cura, Venezuela. He & his five siblings were raised by their mother after the father left the family. The family grew up poor & Escobar started working at seven years old. 

He would shine shoes, clean patios & bag groceries to earn money. He has an eight-grade education. The family lived in a dangerous area & he lost many of his family members at young ages, something he does not like to talk about.

Escobar is a humble man who is grateful to be where he is & never forgets where he came from. "Every time I open my eyes, I'm so happy" he once said.

He signed a bonus contract in 2006 with the Chicago White Sox, where Ozzie Guillen took notice of him. In 2008 he made it to A ball & by 2011 was at the Triple A level.

MLB Career: He was brought up to the major leagues in 2011 at age 22. In 2012 he was traded to
the Chicago White Sox along with Pedro Hernandez in exchange for Francisco Liriano. 

Escobar spent seven years with the Minnesota Twins (2012-2018) playing at shirt stop, third base & outfield. In 2017 he hit 21 HRs with 73 RBIs while batting .254.

In July 2018 he was sent to the Arizona Diamondbacks for two minor leaguers & Jhoan Duran. That season he combined to hut 23 HRs with 84 RBIs & 48 doubles batting .272. He played in Arizona for parts of four seasons (2018-2021). In 2019 he had career highs, leading the league in triples (10) belted 35 HRs & 118 RBIs.

Fear of Cats: Eduardo has a fear of cats & the Diamondbacks pranked him with a stuffed cat that eventually became their good luck symbol.

In July 2021 he was sent to the Milwaukee Brewers for Cooper Hummel & a minor leaguer. He was brought in for the Brew Crew's playoff run, in 48 games he batted .268 with 6 HRs & 25 RBIs for the first place Brewers. That October he collected his 1000th career hit. He did not play in the NLDS loss to the Braves. On the season he drove in 90 runs & hit 28 HRs.

In December 2021 he signed as a free agent with the New York Mets.

Mets Career: Escobar began the season battling J.D. Davis for the third base position.

On Opening Day, he debuted hitting a double & drawing a walk in the Mets 5-1 win over the Nats. Escobar would hit doubles in his first three games.

Trivia: He won over his team right away taking around 70 Mets folks & his entire team out for dinner at a D.C. restaurant in the opening series. In May he would take the entire team out again, this time to his favorite restaurant located in Denver, a Brazilian steak house, where the meat keeps on coming.

In April 19th in the second game of a double header sweep of the Giants, he had his first multi-RBI game, with a two run double in the 3-1 win, as Max Scherzer went to 3-0. He hit his first Mets HR on April 21st, as the Mets took three of four in the series with San Fran. 

Walk Off Hit: On May 29th, in a wild game against the Phillies, he had driven in a run in the
Mets three run 1st inning. But the Phillies came back to go ahead in the game. Rookie Nick Plummer who had just been brought up, hit a game ting HR in the bottom of the 9th inning. 

In the bottom of the 10th inning, Pete Alonso was walked intentionally to get to Escobar. He doubled off Corey Knebel with the walk off hit in the 5-4 Mets win.

In May he hit just .212 with two HRs & struggled into June as well, batting .207 for the month. He was solid every time he was on the field playing a fine defensive third base. 

On June 4th, he started a stretch where he drove in runs in three straight games.

Hitting For the Cycle & Six RBI Night: On June 6th, in a game at San Diego with the Padres, Escobar hit for the cycle & drove in six runs on the night. In the 1st inning, he singled with the bases loaded bringing in two runs off Blake Snell. 

In the 3rd inning he led off with a double & scored on Brandon Nimmo's base hit. In the 8th inning he hit his 5th HR of the year, a two-run moon shot off Craig Stammen giving the Mets a 7-2 lead. In the 9th inning, saving the hardest for last, Escobar hit his third triple of the year, he drove in more two runs giving him a season best six on the year.

On June 20th, he hit a sac fly & added a two-run single against the Marlins in a 6-0 Mets win led by David Peterson's 5.1 shutout innings. The next day he hit his sixth HR in a loss to the Astros in Houston.

When July started, Escobar hit HRs in three straight games with the Texas Rangers. On July 1st he hit a three run HR off the Rangers, Glenn Otto in a 4-3 Mets win. He hit one the next day then his 9th of the season in the series finale in a 4-1 win. Leading up to the All-Star game he hit two HRs & drove in runs in three games prior. On July 16th, he hit a 10th inning HR at Wrigley Field helping the Mets in their 4-3 win. At the break he was batting just .224 but had hit 11 HRs with 18 doubles & 40 RBIs.

On July 21st, in the first game of the subway series, the Mets fell behind 2-0 in the 1st inning.
They came back with a Starling Marte HR, Pete Alonso double to tie the game. Then Escobar hit a two run HR off Jordan Montgomery putting the Mets ahead 4-2. They would win the game 6-2 & sweep the two-game set at Citi Field.

On August 17th he was placed on the ten-day injured list with an oblique strain & returned on August 27th.

Player of the Month: In September as the Mets struggled, Escobar had his best month. From September 1st to the end of the season he batted .321 with 35 hits hitting 8 HRs & drove in 25 runs. The Mets began the month in first place with a three-game lead & finished the year tied but finishing back of the Atlanta Braves.

On September 3rd, he hit a two run HR off Josiah Gray in a 7-3 Mets win over the Nationals. He hit a solo HR the next day as well. On September 7th, Escobar hit his 15th HR of the year, going back-to-back with Tyler Naquin helping in a much needed 5-1 win in Pittsburgh. In a three-game series in Miami he collected six hits, homering in two games leading the Mets to take two of three in the series.

On September 17th, he hit his 18th HR of the year, a three-run shot off Bryse Wilson in a 5-1 win over the Pirates at Citi Field. The win kept the Mets one game ahead of the Braves.

Grand Slam: On September 23rd, in Oakland Escobar hit a grand slam HR off Cole Irvin in the 5th inning of a 9-2 Mets win. It was the first grand slam of his career.

Two days later, in the last game of the series in Oakland he had two hits & drove in two runs in the Mets 13-4 win.

Walk Off Hit & Five RBI Day: On September 28th, in a game against the Marlins at Citi Field Escobar had three hits, starting with his 20th HR of the year, a two-run shot in the 7th inning. 

In the 8th inning with the Mets down 4-2 & the bases loaded, Escobar hit a two-run single to right field tying up the game. In the bottom of the 10th inning, he singled home Francisco Lindor for the walk off game winner.

In the disastrous three game sweep by the Braves in Atlanta, on the last weekend of the regular season he had two different two hit games & a sac fly RBI. The Mets lost their lead to the Braves falling two games back. They would tie the Braves but lose out first place due to their season matchups, 10-9 Braves.

Escobar ended the season batting .240 with 119 hits 20 HRs 26 doubles 4 triples 69 RBIs 58 runs scored & a poor .295 on base %. He also struck out 129 times second on the squad to Franciso Lindor. He hit much better on the road .271 than at Citi Field .207.

He played 130 games at third base, turning 19 double plays, making 12 errors in 287 chances for a .958 fielding %. 

2022 Post Season: In the NLWC Series, he opened up the series with a HR off Yu Darvish, but it was the only run the Mets scored in the 7-1 Mets loss. In Game #2 he had a 7th inning RBI single in the Mets 7-3 win. He went hitless in the final game Mets loss.

2023: Although he had three HRs & nine RBIS by May 1st, Escobar struggled at the plate batting just .210 & would quickly fall back under .200 into the middle of the month. He was eventually replaced at third base by the young Brett Baty. After 40 games Eduardo was batting .236 with 2 HRs & 15 RBIs when he was traded to the L.A. Angels for pitching prospects Landon Marceaux & Coleman Crow.

Post Mets Career: On June 24th Escobar made his Angels debut, filling in a roster of injured infielders. In his debut he collected two hits with an RBI in a 25-1 blow out at Colorado. 

In that same month of June, he became an official U.S. Citizen.

Eduardo finished the year batting .219 in 59 games with the Angels. In November he was granted free agency.

In his 13-year career Eduardo has 1185 hits batting .253 with 247 doubles 46 triples 164 HRs & 636 RBIs. He posted a .305 on base % with a .735 OPS. He struck out 1043 times drawing 351 walks in 1363 games played.

Trivia: Eduardo is a big fan of the Brazilian Steakhouse restaurant. He is known for taking teammates & team employees out to dinner at locations throughout the country.

Family: Escobar & his wife have five children, four boys & one daughter. In the off season the
family live in the Miami area. 

When Eduardo was a toddler, his father abandon the family, leaving his mother to raise their six kids alone. He grew up poor & never forgot where he came from. Years later his father came back into his life & Escobar now supports him. Being a man of Faith, with a strong belief in God, he forgave his father.