KC Royals Player Profile: Alcides Escobar

With the KC Royals regular season approaching fast, KC Kingdom will profile most of the players on this season’s roster. We’ll begin with the guy that will open the season leading off the lineup by profiling shortstop Alcides Escobar.

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The 28-year-old Alcides Escobar came to the Kansas City Royals from Milwaukee along with center fielder Lorenzo Cain, pitcher Jake Odorizzi, and reliever Jeremy Jeffress in return for ace Zack Greinke and shortstop Yunieski Betancourt.

Though Zack Greinke forced general manager Dayton Moore’s hand by demanding a trade, the deal ended up catapulting the KC Royals to the 2014 World Series. Alcides Escobar has been a big part of that equation, starting all but 15 games at shortstop in the last four seasons.

Escobar has been somewhat erratic at the plate over those four seasons. He’s alternated poor hitting years in 2011 and 2013, with solid seasons at the plate in 2012 and 2014 in which he posted OPS+ numbers over 90 (100 is a league-average hitter). Escobar is looking to break that pattern this season by continuing to contribute at the plate in 2015.

Much of Alcides Escobar’s offensive problems are due to his lack of plate discipline. Escobar is a hacker at the dish. His career walk rate sits at 4.2%, which is about half of the major-league average rate of 8.3%.

While no one expects Escobar to suddenly turn into a walk machine. he needs to do a better job of hitting his pitch at the plate.

The rest of Escobar’s game has been steady since he joined the KC Royals. He’s spectacular in the field, becoming a regular on ESPN’s web gems segment and getting nominated for the A.L. gold glove the last two seasons.

Alcides Escobar is also a threat on the basepaths, with 128 stolen bases in 154 attempts in his career. In fact, Escobar stole 22 bases in 2013 without getting caught.

Escobar moved into the leadoff spot last September after spending most of the 2014 season as the no. 9 hitter. Escobar thrived in the role, hitting .362 in 73 plate appearances in the leadoff role. He then slashed .292/.303/.415 in the playoffs.

Alcides Escobar was something of an odd no. 1 hitter in that his career on base percentage last season was only .317, well below the .326 average for leadoff hitters in 2014. Escobar also drew a walk in only 3.7% of his plate appearances last season, which means his walk rate is declining rather than improving.

How long Escobar can hold the leadoff spot is anyone’s guess, but no one can really be surprised that Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost will continue to use the batting order that carried him through the playoffs last season.

FANTASY IMPACT

Alcides Escobar will have little fantasy value in most 10-team leagues, unless your league includes defensive metrics or you need help in the stolen bases category. Escobar is a mid-tier starter in a 20-team league.

Escobar will hurt you in on-base-percentage, slugging, and home run categories, but he has produced over 30 doubles in his two good seasons at the plate (2012, 2014). He’s also hit 26 triples over his four years with the Kansas City Royals, but only 9 the last two seasons.

What you don’t know is if 2015 will meet his “good” standard at the plate.

Alcides Escobar’s batting average has shown significant fluctuations in tandem with his batting average balls in play (BABIP). He’s gyrated between BABIP’s from.264 to .344 in his career (.300 is around average).

Even with a good year at the plate in 2014, he only ranked 12th in wRC+ (adjusted runs created) among major league shortstops.

ALCIDES ESCOBAR CAREER STATS

Year	Age	Tm	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2008	21	MIL	4	4	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.500	.500	.500	1.000	167
2009	22	MIL	134	125	20	38	3	1	1	11	4	2	4	18	.304	.333	.368	.701	87
2010	23	MIL	552	506	57	119	14	10	4	41	10	4	36	70	.235	.288	.326	.614	66
2011	24	KCR	598	548	69	139	21	8	4	46	26	9	25	73	.254	.290	.343	.633	74
2012	25	KCR	648	605	68	177	30	7	5	52	35	5	27	100	.293	.331	.390	.721	96
2013	26	KCR	642	607	57	142	20	4	4	52	22	0	19	84	.234	.259	.300	.559	53
2014	27	KCR	620	579	74	165	34	5	3	50	31	6	23	83	.285	.317	.377	.694	92
7 Yrs	3198	2974	347	782	122	35	21	252	128	26	134	429	.263	.299	.349	.648	77
162 Game Avg.	628	584	68	154	24	7	4	49	25	5	26	84	.263	.299	.349	.648	77

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/24/2015.

Next: Five Key Offensive Players For The KC Royals In 2015

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