Mets confident Eduardo Escobar can overcome early-season struggles: ‘I’d be careful about doubting him’
Eduardo Escobar was unlucky early in the Mets’ win on Saturday afternoon.
He hit a soft fly ball that was destined to bloop in front of centerfield Jazz Chisholm Jr., but the young outfielder stretched out to rob Escobar of a single. In his next at-bat, Escobar launched a pitch all the way to the left-field wall where Bryan De La Cruz eventually caught it, narrowly missing a home run.
So it was understandable when the switch-hitting third baseman launched a two-run shot in the sixth inning he let out a visible yell as he rounded second base. It was his first home run of the season and his first hit from the left side, and just his third hit of the young season.
“It comes with part of the job, especially earlier in the game hitting the ball well and not getting the result you want,” Escobar said through the team translator after the game. “When you get that result, when you get the home run, you want to appreciate that moment. You have to take things one day at a time.”
Escobar, a notorious slow starter, has continued that trend this season, slashing .107/.138/.352 in his first eight games after Saturday’s performance. Those struggles date back to the spring where he hit just .115 without a home run and just two RBI.
While Escobar spent a good portion of March playing in the World Baseball Classic, the Mets saw prospect Brett Baty play very well in his stead.
So when Baty was sent down to start the year in the minors while Escobar had the starting third baseman spot, there were some rumblings. But that home run Saturday not just energized Escobar but his teammates as well.
“There was a lot of guys [happy in the dugout],” manager Buck Showalter said of the home run. “He’s working, he’s a guy that we all know what he means to the morale of the club. There wasn’t a better player in our league last September. It’s there, hopefully this will get him going.”
Last September, Escobar hit .340/.393/.650 with eight homers, four doubles, a triple and 24 RBI and was the team’s best hitter down the stretch. But the 34-year-old infielder, while not the offensive juggernaut of Pete Alonso or Francisco Lindor, has provided a boost to the locker room with his jokey and kind-hearted nature.
Those intangibles really lift the team and as Buck says, when Escobar struggles the team feels for him.
“We know how much some of his struggles early on bothers him,” he said. “He’s not the only one. He understands how it works up here. It’s like a brother or teammate. You always hate when there’s always a negative focus on somebody because you know they are better than that. You see all the quality things they mean to the club. All the intangibles don’t show up on the scorecard.”
Escobar is aware of his struggles and he believes he may have figured out what’s wrong. After working with the Mets’ hitting coaches and bench coach Eric Chavez, it may have to do with his hands.
The veteran says that sometimes he lunges at hittable pitches because he’s “anxious.” Instead, he should be sitting back and reacting to the ball with his quick hands. Before Saturday’s game, he took a lot of reps in the cages and he took that onto the field.
"At the end of the day, I'm not gonna be able to control what the results are. But what I can control is my work ethic and my eagerness to get better each and every day," Escobar said.
And Buck knows the effort his third baseman puts in. That’s why he’s not worried about the early struggles because there’s not much Escobar hasn’t gone through in his 13-year career.
“He’s been playing a long time, he’s endured everything every step of the way,” Showalter said. “I’d be careful about doubting him.”
