Freddie Patek owned opening day

Ever since Freddie Patek departed for the west coast the Royals have struggled to replace him. They thought they had a keeper in UL Washington but he quickly proved that his toothpick was the most interesting part of his game. Kurt Stillwell had a few good years and was fairly solid with the bat and glove, as was Greg Gagne. Angel Berroa won a rookie of the year award and then became an offensive and defensive liability. Rey Sanchez was a wizard with the glove and even hit .289 as a Royal but he was convinced he was underpaid, and would unfortunately learn the hard way, he wasn't.

In franchise history nineteen players have started at shortstop on opening day, of those Patek was the only one that possessed plus defense and plus speed to the position. Until now. Alcides Escobar not only appears to be a Patek clone but he even will be wearing the same number, #2. He seems a safe bet to become the seventh Royals shortstop to start 3+ opening days. This is where Patek excelled, he may have only put up a 78 OPS+ in KC but he mashed on opening day.

Player	ODs		PA	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Freddie Patek	8	Ind. Games	33	11	4	0	1	6	3	8	.367	.424	.600	1.024
U L Washington	4	Ind. Games	16	1	0	0	0	0	4	3	.083	.313	.083	.396
Kurt Stillwell	4	Ind. Games	17	4	2	0	0	3	1	1	.250	.294	.375	.669
Angel Berroa	4	Ind. Games	16	4	0	0	0	1	1	3	.267	.313	.267	.579
Rey Sanchez	3	Ind. Games	10	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	.100	.100	.200	.300
Greg Gagne	3	Ind. Games	10	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	.222	.300	.222	.522
Tony Pena	2	Ind. Games	9	3	0	2	0	2	1	4	.375	.444	.875	1.319
Jackie Hernandez	2	Ind. Games	8	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.125	.125	.125	.250
Onix Concepcion	2	Ind. Games	7	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	.167	.286	.667	.952
Angel Salazar	1	Ind. Games	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000
Neifi Perez	1	Ind. Games	5	3	0	1	0	1	0	0	.600	.600	1.000	1.600
Jose Offerman	1	Ind. Games	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Felix Martinez	1	Ind. Games	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000
David Howard	1	Ind. Games	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Bobby Floyd	1	Ind. Games	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.250	.250	.250	.500
Buddy Biancalana	1	Ind. Games	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	.500	.000	.500
Yuniesky Betancourt	1	Ind. Games	4	1	0	0	1	2	0	1	.250	.250	1.000	1.250
Jay Bell	1	Ind. Games	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500	.500	.500	1.000
Mike Aviles	1	Ind. Games	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000	.250	.000	.250

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used

Escobar's spring has a lot of fans (myself included) hoping that he is on the verge of living up to the hype that at one time followed him around. I'm not buying into his power surge but I also don't think a .280ish average with 30 stolen bases is out of the realm of possibility. 


Three days away from opening day. Three. I'm ready.