Diamondbacks 3B Eduardo Escobar named to first career All-Star Game
Jul 4, 2021, 4:09 PM | Updated: 4:09 pm
Arizona Diamondbacks' Eduardo Escobar reacts after hitting a two-run home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Saturday, June 26, 2021, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
(AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eduardo Escobar was named to the 2021 MLB All-Star Game roster as a reserve on Sunday.
The feat will mark the first trip to the Midsummer Classic for the third baseman in his career after spending 11 years in the big leagues.
“For me, I’m so happy. I’m so happy because I work hard every year for this opportunity to go to the All-Star Game,” he said via Zoom pregame. “I’m so happy. Today is a special day for me, for my wife, my family and for my teammates. To represent Arizona, I think is the most important thing.
“I said to everybody: thank you. Thank you to my manager, my coaches, trainers, condition trainers — all these people do a great job with me, so I’m so happy. Thank you.”
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Escobar was selected by Major League Baseball and will be the D-backs only representative for the game taking place at Coors Field in Denver.
The Diamondbacks third baseman was mobbed by his teammates after manager Torey Lovullo made the announcement in front of the team.
After 11 years in the Majors, @escobardelapica is finally an All-Star.
A moment he'll never forget. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Joj74zRct7
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) July 4, 2021
Through 81 games this season (309 at-bats), the All-Star is slashing .249/.296/.472 to go along with 18 home runs, 11 doubles, two triples and 54 RBI.
However, Escobar won’t be in the lineup on Fourth of July Sunday because Lovullo wants to give him the time off he won’t be getting while the rest of the D-backs get the All-Star break off.
“I made the decision to give him a rest for a couple days and combine it with the next scheduled off day tomorrow and just let him catch his breath a little bit,” Lovullo said. “He’s been going extremely hard. He made the All-Star team. He’s been playing hard to achieve that goal — he did.
“It just makes sense for me to rest him. He’s not going to get the time off that we all will be. He’s going to be a guy that’s traveling up to Colorado, he’s gonna be practicing and potentially playing in a game and we wanted to give him some time down before that happened.”
The Diamondbacks host the San Francisco Giants in the series finale of the four-game set.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 p.m. Catch all the action on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.
