Alcides Escobar has “the eye of the tiger”

The Brewers are quite excited by the season their young shortstop Alcides Escobar had down in Venezuela this winter. He hit .393 and won the batting title. But it’s not just the hitting that impresses them:

Club officials were particularly impressed that Escobar - a noted free-swinger - drew 14 walks in 45 games to finish with a .440 on-base percentage. “I’m really happy for him,” said Nichols. “He had the eye of the tiger down there.”

Let’s not get too excited. His Venezuelan walk totals translate to roughly 50 walks over the course of a 162 game season, which isn’t much better than he did in AAA last year (though an improvement over his partial season MLB rates). Fifty walks in the bigs last season would have ranked roughly 95th out of 154 qualifiers, which is Yadier Molina territory. And, just like you figure he won’t hit .390 in the majors this year, you can figure he won’t walk 50 times here either.

So, sure, be happy that there was some improvement, and be excited about a guy who looks like he’s poised for stardom someday soon, but don’t count on Escobar living up to that “eye of the tiger” stuff for some time.