Yunel Escobar joined the Angels this winter in the trade that sent Trevor Gott to the Washington Nationals. The 33-year-old developed a reputation as something of a clubhouse pariah with both the Braves and Blue Jays—including this woefully misguided display—but has since matured (according to him) and has seemingly avoided conflict. He will likely start the season in Anaheim as David Freese’s successor at third base, but could shift over to the keystone at some point if Johnny Giavotella regresses and/or Kaleb Cowart progresses.
Position: 3B | Age (2016): 33
Bats: R | Throws: R
Height: 6’2″ | Weight: 215
2015 WAR: 1.9
2015 in a Tweet
Escobar boasted a career year at the dish but gave much of that value back with his glove, manning a position (3B) he’d never played before.
2016 Projections
[table id=151 /]Escobar took his attacking, high-contact approach to another level in 2015, but the projection gurus don’t seem to buy that his eye-popping .314/.375/.415 represents sustainable gains. All three systems see a return to Escobar’s more mediocre 2013-2014 levels on offense in the coming season, and PECOTA heaps on the added despair of a league-worst glove at third—hence the -1.2 WARP.
Why the system thinks his defensive true talent at the hot corner is “Derek Jeter in a straight jacket” is beyond me, especially given the small sample and his positive history as a shortstop. If you’re going to take the over on an Angels projection, that’s the one.
As the lowly stolen base projections indicate, speed is not Escobar’s forte. He grounded into a league-leading 24 double plays in 2015 and has just a 57% career success rate on SBs, so don’t expect a lot of windmills at third from Ron Roenicke when Escobar is on.
Spray Charts
Escobar does a good job of spraying the ball to all fields, and seems to do most of his damage on fastballs of one kind or another. It’d be nice if he hit the ball on the ground a bit less given his lack of speed, but if that’s the swing plane he needs to hit line drives all over the place so prodigiously then so be it.
Zone Profile
Escobar thrives on pitches up and the zone and on the inner half of the plate, so naturally most pitchers do their best to stay low and away with him. He covers the whole plate well, but runs into trouble when he starts chasing pitches out of the zone—as everyone not named Vladimir Guerrero does.
Fun Fact
Escobar and veteran catcher Brayan Pena were best friends growing up in Havana, Cuba, and were eventually teammates in the Atlanta Braves system from 2005-2008.
What to Watch For
Escobar posted a .347 BABIP last season, which was a full 47 points higher than his career average. The accompanying spike in his line-drive rate (28%) suggests the sudden increase wasn’t all smoke and mirrors, but it’s worth keeping an eye on in 2016. Any significant dip in BABIP could seriously hurt his leadoff man credentials.
A Bold Prediction
Escobar will not be the worst defensive third baseman in baseball in 2016. With a little more time to work at third during spring, he may even become the average defender he was at short. Watch out, world!
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