Fansided

5 best MLB players you’ve probably never heard of

By JJ Keller

Aug 2, 2014; New York, NY, USA; New York Mets center fielder Juan Lagares (12) catches a ball hit by San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt (not pictured) in the second inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 2, 2014; New York, NY, USA; New York Mets center fielder Juan Lagares (12) catches a ball hit by San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt (not pictured) in the second inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jul 19, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Twins shortstop Eduardo Escobar (5) jumps over Tampa Bay Rays left fielder Brandon Guyer (5) after making a force out at second base in the sixth inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 19, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Twins shortstop Eduardo Escobar (5) jumps over Tampa Bay Rays left fielder Brandon Guyer (5) after making a force out at second base in the sixth inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

Eduardo Escobar, IF/OF, Minnesota Twins
2014 stats: .270/.314/.392 — 97 wRC+ — 1.8 fWAR

We’ll start off with Twins utility man turned everyday player, Eduardo Escobar. I had heard Escobar’s name a time or two, but I associated it with a career minor leaguer, or bench player at best. And for a while, that was correct. For his career, he has an 80 wRC+ (all-inclusive offensive stat scaled so that 100 is league average), well below average.

He doesn’t do any one thing particularly well at the plate, with a decent average, a less than ideal 5.8 percent walk rate, and a below average .122 ISO (isolated power, SLG% minus batting average). But that is enough to do the trick in his case.

This year, his 97 wRC+ is just under league average. That league average, though, is for every player at every position. Escobar plays mainly shortstop (with scattered appearances elsewhere) where offense it at more of a premium (SS average of 87 wRC+). That makes Escobar 10 percent better offensively than the average at his position, which is fairly valuable on it’s own.

Defensively, he has a career +2 DRS and 4.2 UZR at shortstop, and has been roughly average in small samples at other spots around the diamond. His solid offense, average-or-better defense, and ability to play multiple positions makes him a valuable player, with a 1.8 fWAR through 363 plate appearances. He hasn’t been a full-timer all year, so he is only on pace for 450-500 PA on the year. But over that time, he is on pace for 2.4 fWAR. Over a full, 600 PA season, he paces out to 3.0 fWAR.

3 WAR places him somewhere in the top 1o among shortstops in a typical year, similar to what Everth Cabrera and Alexi Ramirez did in 2013. It’s no guarantee he continues this production in the coming years, or even for the rest of this one, but he has been a bright spot for a struggling Twins team this year, and really came out of nowhere in doing so.

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