Signs point to Escobar at top of Royals’ order again

It was a Saturday afternoon in the Royals’ spring-training clubhouse, and the place was quiet.

Half of the squad had gone to San Antonio for a pair of games, and most of those who stayed in Arizona were nowhere to be seen. Miami was on its way to beating Wichita State in the NCAA Tournament on one of the televisions near shortstop Alcides Escobar’s locker, but he paid it no mind.

It was about 90 minutes before Escobar was due to bat leadoff against the Angels in a spring game, and he was silently scrolling through his phone when a reporter approached with a burning question.

Given his success at swinging at the first pitch of a game during last year’s playoffs, will Escobar repeat that formula in the regular season?

“Not every time,” Escobar said. “But I’ll continue to be aggressive. If they continue to throw me a pitch for a strike, I’m going to swing the bat.”

It worked like a charm a year ago.

Escobar batted .257 in 2015, but when he was the first batter of a game, his average climbed to .281. When Escobar swung at the first pitch of the game, that jumped to .364.

In the playoffs, Escobar hit .533 (8 for 15) when he led off games for the Royals. His average was .571 (4 for 7) when he swung at the first pitch.

As the postseason progressed, Escobar continued to swing away in the first inning until the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard temporarily stopped that by throwing a fastball up and in to Escobar in Game 3 of the World Series. He struck out in that bat, but had a single the next night.

How can one explain Escobar’s success at swinging at the first pitch so frequently?

“I was feeling ready to go and happy,” Escobar said. “I felt like I wanted to win, and that happened.”

If only it were that simple, right? Well, in a way it was.

While manager Ned Yost hasn’t officially announced the Royals’ batting order for the season, all signs point to having Escobar back at the No. 1 spot.

That will make some in the sabermetrics field cringe.

Escobar has drawn 160 walks in 3,860 career plate appearances. That is a small number for a leadoff hitter, but the Royals were last in walks (383) in the American League in 2015.

Yost’s goal is making sure Escobar is as comfortable as possible.

“I just want him to be himself, who he is,” Yost said. “We thought having Esky in the one-spot, even having Moose (Mike Moustakas) in the two-spot allows them to use their abilities as baseball players a little bit better. Prototypically, you’d rather have a guy leading off that takes more pitches, maybe has a little bit higher walk rate, but that’s not who he is, it’s not who we are.

“So we kind of throw the book away on that a little bit and allow a really talented athlete to do his thing in the one hole.”

It’s hard to argue with the results. Escobar was MVP of the American League Championship Series and has his name in the record book for the longest postseason playoff hitting streak at 15 games.

“When I signed into professional baseball, I was always hitting third or hitting second,” Escobar said. “A couple of times I batted eighth or ninth. When I’m batting first, we have got a 90-percent (chance) to win the game. That’s amazing.”

Amazing, indeed. But the Royals don’t win 90 percent of the time when Escobar is batting leadoff. That old Esky Magic proved effective 63 percent (93-54) of the time in 2015, including the playoffs. When someone else was in the leadoff spot, the Royals were 13-18.

As far as Escobar is concerned, that’s all in the rear-view mirror.

“I learned a lot from last year,” Escobar said. “I’m happy to be in the MLB history books with the longest hitting streak in the postseason.

“This year is a new year, though, and I’m getting ready.”

As for Saturday’s exhibition game against the Angels, Escobar batted leadoff but didn’t swing at the first pitch. In fact, he struck out to start the game.

But wouldn’t you know it? The Royals scored four runs in the eighth inning and rallied for a 5-4 victory.

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 8:06 PM with the headline "Signs point to Escobar at top of Royals’ order again."