Alcides Escobar and Wednesday’s Greatest Play

These are dark days for your Kansas City Royals. They just lost two of three against the Astros. Chris Getz is batting leadoff. Ned Yost is still the manager, and the Royals’ great young hitters aren’t hitting so great. But as it’s been for so many years, being a fan of the Royals means taking pleasures where you find them. And this play that Alcides Escobar made Wednesday night is highly pleasurable:

Escobar’s one of those guys who makes you wonder about modern fielding metrics. He’s always looked great, but statistically he was pretty terrible last year. He was real good in 2011, though, and has been real good again this season. For whatever reason, last season seems like an outlier, and I’m happy to suggest that Escobar’s one of the better shortstops in the league.