Savior at Shortstop

There some local bloggers in the Kansas City area who refer to the Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar as the Shortstop Jesus.  This comes from a loyal but perennially disappointed fan base that has endured a quarter of a century of failure and more of our fair share of terrible shortstops.  Sure, the Royals have briefly ran out guys like Rey Sanchez, Greg Gagne, Fred Patek, and Jay Bell out for a season or two but they have also paid good money to the likes of Yuniesky Betancourt, Neifi Perez, Angel Berroa, Onix Conception, and Tony Pena, Jr.

While I can’t remember every stiff to don the Royals uniform and play shortstop, I have seen them all since Freddie Patek in the 70’s.  I cannot remember any as spectacular as Alcides Escobar.  None have been as fun to watch on an everyday basis as Escobar.  None has combined the glove, range, and arm that Escobar possesses.  Some have been terrific at making the routine plays and some could make the highlight reel plays.  Escobar does both on a day in and day out basis.  One of the joys in watching the Royals every night the past season plus is that there is a good chance I am going to see something awesome from the shortstop position.

Escobar came to the Royals via the Milwaukee Brewers in the Zack Greinke before the 2011 season.  Escobar had a reputation as a slick fielder but his 2010 numbers were less than impressive.  He committed 26 errors in 711 chances in 2009 and 2010 for the Brewers, 20 of these came in only 552 chances in 2010, indicating he was a bit raw.  Since coming to the Royals, he has committed only 18 errors in 929 chances and only three of those have been fielding errors.  Read that again – he has made only 3 fielding errors in 929 chances and 190 games.  These numbers are not diluted by a lack of range because this dude has the best range of any shortstop I have ever seen and he has the arm to turn that incredible range into outs.

At the beginning of the 2011 season, Escobar struggled at the plate.  Through the first few days of June, he was hitting down in the Eric Hosmer .200 range.  He caught fire in June and raised his average up to the .250 range and he was able to maintain that average pretty much through the rest of the season, finishing at .254.  The funny thing was that even when he was hovering around .200 for two months, no one cared.  He was so much better with the glove than what Kansas City fans were used to, we didn’t care what he hit.  In this era of baseball, offense is king so it is very difficult to impress with the glove so much that no one really gives a hoot how a player hits.

Going into tonight’s game in Baltimore, Alcides Escobar is hitting .305 in 2012.  Three errors and a .305 average?  Are you kidding me?  He only has one home run and one triple but he leads the team in doubles with 13.  Keep in mind that the Royals are a team of double hitting fools.  To lead in that category is an accomplishment.  Throw in 7 steals in 8 chances and you are looking at a legitimate All Star candidate.  This all being said, I do not expect Escobar to maintain that lofty average.  He is an absolute free swinger with only 6 walks this season but he doesn’t strikeout at a crazy rate.  He maintains an excellent contact rate at 85% so he does put wood to ball when he swings.  He is enjoying an unsustainable batting average on balls in play of .354.  That will come down and so will his average.  When you consider his defense though, however long he hits like he is, his average is pure gravy. 

I would really like to see the Royals to go one a run in June and for more than the obvious reasons.  I would love to see the Royals get more than the one All Star roster spot.  It will be decades before the summer classic returns to Kansas City so it would be great for all of us long suffering fans to get a couple of hometown players in the game.  It’s hard to give a bad team two spots unless they earn them but the Royals have some guys who are earning those spots.  Billy Butler is having a terrific year and with the DH this year, he is the leading candidate to represent the Royals but there are some other guys who are worthy.  Mike Moustakus has had a good year at the plate and has been much better than anyone ever expected with his glove work at third.  A couple of the bullpen guys have been terrific.  And, of course, there is Alcides Escobar.  Derek Jeter will be the AL starter at shortstop and rightfully so but I don’t think any other shortstop is more worthy right now than Escobar.  If he can keep his average around .275 and continues his splendid defense, Alcides should get the nod.  No other shortstop outside of New York is having a comparable well rounded season. 

Despite all the frustrations in watching the Kansas City Royals, Alcides Escobar isn’t one of them.  He makes watching the games a joy and I have become a great fan.  I look forward to many more years watching this guy and I am excited about that.

Special thanks to baseball-reference.com and BaseballHQ.com for their excellent stat work.

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