Escobar expected to bring much-needed pop

PITTSBURGH -- The defensive versatility is probably the biggest thing that drew the Brewers to trade for D-backs infielder Eduardo Escobar, but there’s another important part of his game that made him a fit:

Power.

Escobar’s 22 home runs were tied for fifth in the National League entering Thursday’s games, five more than the Brewers’ current team leader, Avisaíl García. And Escobar’s .478 slugging percentage will place him among Milwaukee's leaders when he joins his new team on Friday in Atlanta.

With Christian Yelich (.367 slugging percentage) and Keston Hiura (.304) producing little power this season, the Brewers have been searching for pop in recent months. They got a dose of it from Luis Urías and Willy Adames before each player cooled recently, and also with an early July trade for first baseman Rowdy Tellez. Even with a recent uptick, the club entered Thursday ranked 25th in the Majors with a .385 slugging percentage and 17th with 1.19 home runs per game.

“We're trying to be a great offense and to be a great offense, we probably have to hit some more home runs,” manager Craig Counsell said. “It can happen. It can happen the rest of the second half, certainly. But it is part of being really good on offense. Hitting some home runs is how you put the big numbers up there.

“Look, we're doing a really good job right now of moving the line and we've been good at that over the last month, I'd say. Trying to be well-rounded, and trying to be complete, I think this is a player who can help in both areas, but obviously this is a player who can help hit some home runs.”

Critically, Escobar is a switch-hitter in addition to being versatile enough on defense. He has done the most damage this season as a right-handed hitter against left-handed pitchers – with a .275/.327/.538 slash line vs. .237/.291/.459 as a left-handed hitter against righty pitchers.

“I think hitting home runs is important. It’s the most impactful way to score runs,” Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns said. “This is a guy who’s done that in bunches. He’s a good hitter. He’s a good hitter from both sides of the plate. He’s done some real damage against left-handed pitching this year. That’s an area where at times we haven’t been as proficient, and so adding Escobar to that mix certainly helps.”

Narváez makes the introduction

The D-backs were in Arlington on the final day of a two-city road trip on Wednesday when the Brewers traded for Escobar, so he took the team charter “home” to Phoenix to gather some things before traveling to Atlanta on Thursday night. He’ll be in uniform for Friday’s series opener against the Braves.

Rather than wait until then, Brewers catcher Omar Narváez connected with Escobar via FaceTime on Wednesday night after a 7-3 win over the Pirates at PNC Park and paraded him around the clubhouse to say hello to his new teammates. Narváez even popped in the manager’s office for an introduction with Counsell.

“The main thing is make our players feel comfortable on our team,” Narváez said. “I think that was a good welcome by everybody. … Once I knew he was getting traded, I called him right away to try to let everybody know a little bit of him."

The two first met when Escobar was playing for the Twins and Narváez was a young catcher with the White Sox. Fellow Venezuelans, they hit it off and have remained close.

“He’s a great guy, man,” Narváez said. “He’s going to fit right in on this team because he’s not one of those guys, like, he’s really cocky. He’s not. Actually, I talked to him the night before and he’s just ready to play. He’s ready to win ballgames. That’s what everybody is here for.”

Counsell heard the same.

“Knowing people from the Diamondbacks who have been there for a while, I received a number of texts about Eduardo as a person,” Counsell said. “It's always great when you acquire someone to receive those texts, because that means that person made an impact on others and treated others very, very well and with respect.”

Last call

• Josh Hader pitched for the first time in 11 days on Wednesday, the longest layoff of his career as the result of a series of team off-days and lopsided scores. But he kept busy, saying, “A lot of people from the outside look at it as I’m not doing anything, but through that period there’s a lot of times that it allows me to get a lot more mound work and start working on things. I’ve been working on the changeup a lot more and figured out a different grip. I’ve been trying to add that in.”

• With Daniel Vogelbach joining Travis Shaw on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Nashville on Thursday, the Brewers have a roster crunch coming in a couple of weeks. But Counsell isn’t wasting energy on that.

“Being a couple weeks away, there's just no reason to figure it out right now,” the skipper said. “In a couple weeks, we'll get there and have to answer the question.”

• Expect Urías to see some more time at shortstop once Escobar joins the fold, Counsell said. That will allow some additional rest for Adames, who has played all but one game since joining the Brewers on May 22.