![]() ![]() The Diamondbacks were playing poorly - they went 8-19 that month, falling out of first place and missing the playoffs - but Escobar helped keep things from feeling dour. “It was ‘Happy Thanksgiving’ in the middle of September, ‘Merry Christmas’ in the middle of September,” says manager Torey Lovullo. The clubhouse began to ring with his catchphrases, which lean heavily on the comedic power of non sequiturs. I heard a lot of good things about you.’ He was like, ‘Just give me some time.’”īy the end of September, Escobar was settling in. Outfielder David Peralta, a fellow Venezuelan and one of the first to reach out to Escobar after the trade, would tease him about it. “When he first got to the team, he was super quiet,” says catching instructor Robby Hammock. But the Diamondbacks found him to be reserved. The reputation that had followed Escobar to Arizona was the one he enjoys now - funny, a blast to be around, one of the best people in the game. That transformation was gradual, despite the limited timeframe. By the start of spring training in 2019, he was already an integral figure in the clubhouse. Over the course of the final two months of the season, from Escobar’s point of view, the Diamondbacks went from being not the Twins to the team with which he wanted to spend the next several years of his career. Three months later, mere days before he was set to hit free agency, Escobar was signing a three-year, $21 million extension with Arizona. “I didn’t think I’d love another place like Minnesota,” Escobar says. When he was traded, he posted a goodbye image of himself to Twitter - looking down from the heavens over Target Field, his hands outstretched. He’d built lifelong friendships with longtime Twins like Brian Dozier and Kurt Suzuki. He’d spent seven seasons in Minnesota, blossoming from a utility infielder to an everyday player who was a legitimate power threat. When Escobar arrived in Arizona in late July of 2018, he was quiet. “But if he ends up going somewhere else, we’re going to miss him. “I don’t know what’s going to happen the next few weeks,” says bench coach Luis Urueta. He was traded to the Diamondbacks three years ago this month, but it feels like he’s been with the organization for a lifetime. It’s why their hearts ache as they brace for the fact that the same talents that made him an All-Star are likely to take him to another team by the end of the month. That’s why they were especially overjoyed to learn that Escobar will play in his first All-Star Game tonight after 11 years in the big leagues. And they don’t make them more positive than Escobar. Rojas - ahem, Marty the Zebra - says Escobar is always there to “lift you up from the depths.” “You need to be around positive people,” adds catcher Stephen Vogt. “You look at Eddie and he makes you smile,” says catcher Carson Kelly. He is joyously loud and speaks at a machine-gun pace with an endearingly thick Venezuelan accent that turns just about anything he says into a team catchphrase.Īrizona’s other players may have had teammates they loved, but no one they loved quite like they love Escobar. He takes a deep interest in the people around him, whether it’s assigning them alter egos from children’s movies or guiding them through a rough patch at the plate. It’s silliness like this that makes the 32-year-old Escobar the most beloved player on the team. It all may seem to be the height of frivolity, but it’s not. I said, ‘You’re the princess, so I’ll call you Elsa.’” “Now, Tim Locastro is gone” - traded to the Yankees earlier this month - “so the princess is Andy Young. I called him Princess,” Escobar explains. (Imagine not wanting to hear why.) “Because Tim Locastro was the most beautiful guy on the team. “You know why?” Escobar asks an interlocutor. And, leaving the DreamWorks Animation family entirely, Andrew Young is Elsa. The diminutive Daulton Varsho is Kowalski the Penguin. Josh Rojas is the cut-up, so he gets to be Marty the Zebra, a character voiced by Chris Rock. More importantly, Escobar has seized on the misunderstanding as a chance to make Arizona’s young players feel welcomed. “So now,” Smith says, arriving at the point, “he says ‘Shamu Power’ all the time.” When Alex the Lion lamented the presumed presence of Shamu, Escobar “just assumed he had to compete with another lion.” He’s not at the zoo.’ He’s like, ‘No, Shamu is a lion.’” It went on like this for a while.Ī quick review of the movie uncovered the cause of the mix-up. “He said he wanted to see Shamu,” Smith says. A road trip to San Diego loomed, and Escobar was planning a trip to the zoo. A bunch of other stuff happens, but that’s what you need to know.Īs Smith and Escobar sat in the Chase Field weight room late last month, a similar miscommunication occurred. ![]()
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