Yunel Escobar arrived with a spotty reputation, but his play in Toronto has silenced the doubters.
It’s been interesting watching the metamorphosis of Yunel Escobar.
He arrived in Toronto 53 weeks ago with quite the reputation: a world of skill but a little short on full-time effort.
Clearly, Escobar plays gold glove-calibre shortstop, the best we’ve seen in these parts since Tony Fernandez before he was packaged off to the Padres in the franchise-altering trade with Fred McGriff for Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter. But whereas Fernandez had better range and could make off-balance throws better than just about anyone at the position ever, Escobar makes up for covering slightly less ground with a powerful arm that can deliver the ball chest-high to Adam Lind almost every time.
At the plate, Fernandez and Escobar are similar, actually separated by just 18 hits over their first 593 career MLB games. Fernandez was a .301 hitter at that point in his career – he was a switch-hitter, remember – while Escobar has driven in 29 more runs and his OPS sits 20 points higher.
Let’s not forget that Escobar joined the Jays to start the second half of 2010 and he didn’t exactly leave Atlanta with a pillowcase full of lasting memories. His flashy ways on defence didn’t sit well with old school manager Bobby Cox in the heart of Dixie. It didn’t help matters when Escobar didn’t exactly bust tail on every routine ground out. In his first half season with the Jays, those moments sometimes slipped into his new script, but not often but enough to make you go ‘hmm…’
This season, there has been none of that. Since early in spring training when he fielded a grounder in a Grapefruit League game and flipped it wildly behind his back, Blue Jays coach Brian Butterfield and team leader Jose Bautista have impressed upon Escobar that that’s not the way they want him to roll in Toronto. And because of that, Escobar has accepted whatever role and spot in the order that he’s been asked to fill.
Thus far in 2011, manager John Farrell has asked Escobar to hit in two significant spots in his batting order. After Rajai Davis slumped his way out of the leadoff spot, Escobar took over and in his 70 games batting first, he hit a solid .296 with a .818 OPS, ranking him better than Grady Sizemore.
Then, when Jose Bautista turned an ankle on an awkward slide into third, he stepped in over the final three games of the Yankees series and reached base eight times (five hits, three walks) in 13 plate appearances while driving in three of the team’s final 10 runs to close out the series. On defence, where mustard used to smother his game, he’s been all business. His nine errors in 355 total chances to date is in the middle of the pack, but a couple of those balls should have been eaten for base hits.
The fact that he has also played beside six different third basemen – tied for most in A.L. – should not be discounted.
With the Blue Jays and Alex Anthopoulos having rewarded Escobar with a two-year extension (with two more club options) for reasonable money, he’s certainly on stronger footing than his double-play partner Aaron Hill. The team is already on the hook to Cuban prospect Adeiny Hechavarria for $10 million thru 2013 (he’s looking like he’ll be spending the full season at double-A) and the debate now is which of Escobar or Hechavarria will be making the switch to second.
With Hill’s game on both sides of the ball seemingly taking a step back, the decision-makers will have to make a call on this as soon as the season concludes. That is if Hill isn’t shipped off in the next two weeks with the trade deadline looming.
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
I found it quite comical when New YorkYankees manager Joe Girardi intimated that the Blue Jays are up to no good at Rogers Centre, suggesting they might be stealing signs from means other than a runner on second base. All this was raised after Yankees starters Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia were slapped around to the tune of 13 hits and 14 runs on just 5.2 innings in a pair of one-sided wins by the Jays to open up the second half.
What a bunch of baloney.
I wonder what happened in the last two games of the series when CC Sabathia and Phil Hughes shut down the Jays on just seven hits and three runs over 14 innings to allow the series to be split? But I guess instead of tipping your cap to the Jays for the mauling, it’s easier to claim foul play, especially to the vociferous New York press that picks at Girardi on a daily basis.
Is it possible that something untoward is going on down at the concrete convertible? Of course it’s possible, especially with the number of windows that look on into the stadium. But the Rogers Centre has been in operation for over 22 years and this is the first time that issue has been broached.
Enough of the whining already.
