Player Predictions: SS Eduardo Escobar

However, to start the 2015 season, Paul Molitor decided to give Santana the starting shortstop job. He stuck with him for a long time. On August 1st, Escobar became the Twins everyday shortstop again. Over the last 56 games, he hit .286/.350/.524 (.874) with 18 doubles and eight home runs. In just two months.

Finally, Escobar came to spring training this year knowing that he would be the Twins’ Opening Day shortstop.

Last year, Escobar started 65 games at shortstop. He certainly helped the Twins rankings compared to other teams’ shortstops with those strong final two months. Twins shortstops were 11th in baseball with a .267 batting average. They were 14th in on-base percentage at .312. They rank seventh in slugging percentage at .411, and their .723 OPS was ninth in the big leagues. In large part due to Escobar, the Twins shortstops led MLB shortstops with 42 doubles and were third with seven triples.

KEY NUMBERS

9.5 - In 2015, Escobar had 31 doubles four triples and 12 home runs in 446 plate appearances. That is 9.5 plate appearances per extra base hit (PA/XBH). Among all Twins hitters last year, Escobar’s 9.5 was second to only Miguel Sano’s 9.3 PA/XBH in his half-season debut.

Going back to 2014, Escobar’s 10.8 PA/XBH was second only to the 10.4 XBH/PA by Trevor Plouffe among players with more than 430 plate appearances.

No doubt, Escobar has been an extra base machine the last couple of seasons.

PREDICTIONS

Eduardo Escobar: 545 At-bats, .246/.295/.389 (.684), 33 doubles, 3 triples, 13 home runs.

These are not the numbers that Escobar put up over the final two months of the season. They’re below league average, but almost right on MLB average for a shortstop. With those doubles and homers, if he plays solid defense, he should keep the job all year. (If you were wondering, that’s a prediction of 11.1 PA/XBH, slightly below where he was in 2014.)

YOUR TURN

Your turn. Share your thoughts on and predictions on Eduardo Escobar in 2016. We can take a look back at the end of the season and see how we did.

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