What a bounce-back year from Eduardo Escobar looks like

Last season seemed to be a tale of two different seasons for New York Mets third baseman Eduardo Escobar as he battled through highs and lows at different points throughout the year. Despite the low points when many fans were rightfully calling for his benching, Escobar persevered and went on a tear in September and October hitting a combined .385/.596/.982 with 8 home runs and 25 RBIs.

With those scorching numbers, Escobar finished the season with a line of .240/.295/.430 slash line to go along with 20 home runs, 69 RBIs, and a WAR number of 2.3. So what would a bounce-back season for the 34-year-old third baseman look like? Well, it would look like more of the same that we saw from him in September and October of last season.

Eduardo Escobar looks to roll over his numbers from the end of last season into his 2023 campaign with the Mets

It's possible Escobar had a tough time settling in under the bright lights of New York City early on as many athletes do, but he seemed to finally have found his footing and he became instantly embraced by Mets fans over the final month or so of the season. Production-wise, Escobar will be counted on heavily after the Carlos Correa deal fell through, while also taking a mentor approach to the younger players such as Brett Baty and Mark Vientos.

FanGraphs currently predicts Escobar as having a .233/.292/.417 batting line with 21 home runs and 71 RBIs over 132 games played. While those numbers would be eerily similar to last season's numbers, for Escobar to have a bounce-back year, his numbers will have to greatly exceed those predicted by FanGraphs.

A true bounce-back season for Escobar would be close to 30 home runs, around 80 RBIs with a batting average around .250-.260, and a WAR close to 3. Escobar had a WAR number of 2.9 in 2019 and a WAR of 3.5 back in 2018 which were two of the best seasons of his career.

I truly believe Eduardo Escobar will have a much better 2023 campaign and pick up right where he left off at the tail end of last season as he also seems to be very comfortable heading into Spring Training. A big season from Escobar will place him in a position to give the Mets serious consideration to pick up his $9 million player option in 2024.