Why we can trust Eduardo Escobar moving forward

The New York Mets lineup has had trouble finding consistency this season. It stems all the way back to last season right around the trade deadline. This issue, which reared its ugly head in September, cost the Mets the division title as well as a quick first-round exit in the Wild Card Series at the hands of the San Diego Padres.

This inconsistency has carried over to this season leading to a mediocre start from the team with the highest payroll in all of baseball. Even with an infusion of youth from the Mets top prospects, the entire group really hasn’t been able to get things going.

Slumps are going to happen all the way from your top stars to the young kids, but there is hope. There should be a light at the end of the tunnel. I can’t foresee this going on all season. It’s time for us to put our faith in these players to turn it around because we know they can do it.

One Mets player you should trust going forward is Eduardo Escobar.

I know he’s not a star on the team. Heck, he ain't even a starter anymore!

We all know the saga that is Eduardo Escobar. After signing a 2-year deal a couple of offseasons ago to play third base, it was really an up-and-down affair with him.

Escobar’s lack of offense came for most of the season last year while everyone was turning on all cylinders. Then when the lineup went missing in September it was Escobar who carried them through with big hits day in and day out.

He almost single-handedly propelled them to the division title at the end.

This stretch gave the Mets enough confidence in moving forward with him as the starting third baseman this season. This was even after Brett Baty had a spring to remember. A spring that would have most definitely landed him on the Opening Day lineup.

Instead, they went with the veteran in Escobar who slumped, badly.

It was worse than the start Escobar had the previous year. So bad that he eventually lost his starting role to Baty.

Escobar seemed to come to terms with his lack of production and gracefully gave up his starting job to the top prospect. He has even shown to be a great mentor and leader. If you ever see them in the dugout, they are always together as Escobar instills wisdom in the youngster.

This new role off the bench has not only impacted Escobar positively on and off the field but at the plate as well. His offense has seen a significant rise not only in average but in power and his ability to drive in runs.

He has been so good offensively recently that you would hope that he’d take some playing time at DH, where Daniel Vogelbach has been struggling.

Now I don’t know if we will ever see Eduardo Escobar in a significant starting role again but you should have faith in him being very productive off the bench for the rest of the season.