Ned Yost trusts the always-dependable Alcides Escobar to deliver in leadoff spot

This is a spring training game, on the road, with only two regulars in the lineup. You know, just so we’re all clear where we stand here.

This is a game for players to work on new swings and fans to sit close. This is not a place for any grand proclamations, but still, a small thing carried enough meaning that Royals manager Ned Yost brought it up afterward.

His shortstop came to the plate in the top of the second, a man on second base and two outs. Alcides Escobar is not one for long at-bats. He likes to swing, and makes a lot of contact. Just like many of his teammates.

That’s always been part of his makeup, part of who he is as a baseball player, but last fall a desperation move — that’s Yost’s description — clicked and Escobar ended up as the leadoff hitter for the American League champion Royals.

So, now everyone asks Escobar if he’s going to take more pitches and he says he will, but the sample size is much too small to know anything for sure. But in this at-bat, the one that Yost brings up after the game, Escobar watched the first three pitches, all of them balls.

Maybe in the past, this is where he’d have seen the take sign from the dugout. But Yost made a point of letting Escobar make the decision. He took a strike on the inside corner, and depending on your perspective this is either a player maturing or a manager trusting his guy or maybe a combination of the two.

“I want him to be himself,” Yost says. “Whatever that is. I’m not mandating he takes more pitches. That takes away from his game.”

Escobar ended up grounding out, so we’re not talking about a breakthrough here, but the point is that hitting is a thing best done with a clear mind. And forget all of this leadoff stuff, Yost wants Escobar hitting with a clear mind.

Yost’s management style has always been to trust his guys, and as much as anyone else on the roster, Escobar is one of Yost’s guys.

Over the last four seasons, Yost has played Escobar in all but 15 of 663 games, including the playoffs. The only men to play more regular-season games than Escobar over that time are Hunter Pence, Robinson Cano, Adrian Gonzalez and Billy Butler.

Butler is primarily a DH, Gonzalez a first baseman, Cano has mixed in 29 games at DH and Pence will miss the first few weeks of this season because of a broken arm.

That leaves Escobar as one of the most durable and dependable players in a sport that worships durability and dependability. Escobar was the first big-league shortstop since Jimmy Rollins in 2007 to start 162 games, and Yost makes it sound like that might happen again.

“He did it last year, why can’t he do it again?” the manager says.

When people talk about the Royals, it is often in the context of whether Eric Hosmer can be a star, or about the incredible defense or lockdown bullpen. Alex Gordon is the face of the franchise, and Sal Perez the team’s energy.

But Escobar embodies the team as much as anyone. He is an athletic free-swinger in what should be the prime of his career, but still playing on a very club-friendly deal. He loves the game, gets along with his teammates, and had a bit of an unexpected star turn last September and October.

When Yost took the job in Kansas City, he talked of being excited about watching this group grow and mature, and Escobar is as good an example as anyone. He was the one Yost talked about not pinch hitting for as a young player, remember, because the Royals needed that maturation.

Escobar is not a finished product. But he is 28 years old, past the point where you’d expect major statistical improvement, and what the Royals have now is a reliable player at a premium position.

He came to them with a reputation for making the flashy play but occasionally booting the easy one. He has made the flashy play — his catch in Cleveland last year was the play of the year, at least until Mike Moustakas in the ALCS — but has smoothed out some of the mistakes. Fielding percentage is a flawed statistic, but Ecobar ranked fourth among American League shortstops last year.

He is as good a marker as any of the progress the Royals have made over the years, in other words.

And assuming he’s the leadoff hitter, and knowing Yost’s commitment to playing Escobar every day, there might not be anyone on the roster who’s a more consistent influence on the team. The Royals have put four years of investment into making that a good thing.

Now that the time is here, they just want him to be himself.

This story was originally published March 15, 2015 at 7:53 PM with the headline "Ned Yost trusts the always-dependable Alcides Escobar to deliver in leadoff spot."