Yunel Escobar
From BR Bullpen
Yunel Escobar Almenares
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 2", Weight 200 lb.
- Born November 2, 1982 in Havana Cuba
[edit] Biographical Information
Infielder Yunel Escobar debuted in the majors in 2007. He hit .271/~.380/.358 in four seasons in the Cuban Serie Nacional. He never played for the famed Cuban national team.
He fled his homeland of Cuba to seek out big money in American baseball. He was drafted in the second round of the 2005 amateur draft by the Atlanta Braves. After a brief stint with the Danville Braves (.400/.472/.733 in 8 games), he was promoted to the Rome Braves, where he hit .313/.358/.470. Baseball America rated him the #9 prospect in the South Atlantic League. In 2006, Escobar played in the 2006 Futures Game and hit .264/.361/.346 for the Mississippi Braves, facing more age-appropriate competition than he had his first year.
After beginning 2007 with the Richmond Braves and hitting .333/.379/.456 in 46 games, Escobar was promoted to the majors. He became the team's starting third baseman in the absence of the injured Chipper Jones and went 2 for 4 in his debut, hitting second. In his first at-bat, he singled off of Rich Hill before being erased on a double-play grounder by Edgar Renteria. He hit .321/.345/.536 his first week.
Escobar would spend 2008 and 2009 with Atlanta, acting as the team's starting shortstop. He hit .288 in 136 games in 2008, and went .299 over 141 games in 2009.
Escobar was part of a deal with the Toronto Blue Jays that sent shortstop Alex Gonzalez and minor leaguers Tim Collins and Tyler Pastornicky to the Braves in exchange for Escobar and minor-league pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes on July 15, 2010. Before the swap, Escobar was batting .238 with no home runs and 19 RBIs. He didn't take long to impress the new club, hitting his first career grand slam during a six-run second inning as the Blue Jays crushed the Baltimore Orioles 10-1 on July 18th.
Escobar started off well in 2011, hitting a two-run walk-off homer off Oakland's Grant Balfour in the 10th inning on April 5 to turn a 6-5 deficit into a 7-5 Blue Jay win. Unfortunately, he suffered a mild concussion the next day when he banged his head into Andy LaRoche's knee while sliding into the bag on a triple. He was taken out of the game a half-inning later and became the first test case of Major League Baseball's new policy on concussions adopted just before the season, meaning he needed to be cleared by a medical specialist before being allowed back into action.
Sources include 2006 Baseball Almanac and the 2010 Who's Who in Baseball
