New York Mets' Eduardo Escobar hits a single during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) (Morry Gash, AP)
MILWAUKEE — Eduardo Escobar received another day off as the Mets searched for ways to jumpstart their third baseman.
Escobar spent time talking to manager Buck Showalter in his office at American Family Field ahead of the Mets’ series finale with the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday morning, along with infield coach Joey Cora, and while the contents of the meeting were not disclosed, Showalter did voice his confidence in the 34-year-old Venezuelan that played such an important role for the Mets last summer.
“We’re just trying to put our best foot forward today in the idea that it might make us better in the long run,” Showalter said. “And him, individually.”
Showalter has always liked Escobar and it’s tough to not like him. He’s effusively positive and he’s a well-liked teammate in the clubhouse. But Brett Baty outplayed him in spring training and his offensive struggles over the first week of the 2023 season have been magnified in part because the Mets have not produced many runs, and in part, because Baty has been so good in Triple-A.
Escobar is just 2-for-20 through the first four games of the year (.100) and has a .243 OPS. He’s drawn one walk and struck out seven times. Four games might be a small sample size, but it’s tough to hide a player when a team has made their World Series aspirations known.
“If you’re going to listen to a broadcast or read articles then you’re going to get some negative feedback,” Showalter said. “It’s true for me, it’s true for the third base coach, it’s true for the players. In all of these jobs, you have to have a tough skin and it’s part of the reason Eduardo did so well in August and September last year. He knows exactly what we’re doing here as a team and as an organization and he wants to be a part of it.”
Escobar has remained outwardly positive, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care.
“He cares a lot,” Showalter said. “Frustration isn’t the right word, his teammates want it so bad for him because we know what he’s about and he wants to contribute, almost to a fault.”
Last season, Escobar struggled at the plate until the summer. But after returning from an oblique strain in late August, he couldn’t stop hitting.
He hit .321 with eight home runs and a .982 OPS in September and October, playing the hero for the Mets in a few late-September games when they were in a battle for first place in the NL East with the Atlanta Braves.
But the Mets can’t afford to wait until September to see if he reverts back to his old self. Showalter often talks about players’ track records and his belief that they will get out of slumps because of them. But a track record always has an endpoint.
If Escobar doesn’t turn it around, it will only be a matter of time before the Mets call up Baty, the club’s second-ranked prospect. He re-injured his surgically-repaired thumb Tuesday in a game with Triple-A Syracuse, but imaging showed no structural damage and he’s considered day-to-day with thumb inflammation, so the club can’t call him up just yet but the pressure is on Escobar to perform.
MULTI-HIT McNEIL
Infielder Jeff McNeil, the 2022 NL batting champ, had three hits Tuesday night to record the 165th multi-hit game of his career. Since the start of 2022, McNeil has 17 games with three hits or more, tied for the third-most in MLB. Only Freddie Freeman (21) and Luis Arraez (18) have more. Freeman finished second to McNeil in the NL batting race last season and Arraez won the AL batting title.
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
The Mets will finally open the 2023 home slate at Citi Field on Thursday afternoon and the Empire State Building will be lit blue and orange through sunset Wednesday through Thursday to welcome them back.
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Originally published at Tribune News Service