Jose Escobido Announces Retirement From Baseball

[Sandgnats]

CRYSTAL LAKE HERALD

SPORTS – GNATS NOW
Jose Escobido Announces Retirement From Baseball
Updated: October 4th, 2031 – 1:25 PM

By Howard Heskin, Gnats Beat Writer and ESPN PEBA Correspondent – Twitter @HowardHeskin1

Second Basemen Jose Escobido announced via his Twitter page today that he has decided to hang it up and call it a career after spending June 4th through the end of the season with the Gnats AAA affiliate Evansville Tri-Staters. Escobido joined AAA Evansville this season with a $10,000 signing bonus to provide leadership with his hardwork ethic to the younger placers on the team. In 15 games this season Escobido batted .220/.291/.380 with 2 home runs.

Escobido is well-known for his time spent in Toyoma in 2023 through the 2027 seasons where he batted .321/.395/.419 in 1,661 at bats he also hit for 100 doubles. He finishes he career with winning the 2026 Platinum Stick Award and being selected to the All-Star Game 3 times. His career stats are an impressive .309/.381/.410 with an OPS of .791 and a lifetime WAR of 33.5.

Escobido, born in the Dominican Republic, began his career in the Mexican League where he played from 2009 through 2019. He won the 2019 Alianza BĂŠisbol Al Sur de la Frontera Gran Final de Mejico with the El Ray Vampiros and then was released that off season where he signed a minor league contract ($1,839,147 bonus) with the Kawaguchi Transmitters (present day San Juan) organization. He moved up in the organization and quickly was recognized that season being selected to the 2020 League of the Rising Sun All-Star Game and also finishing 3rd in 2020 LRS-JPN SSG Shinjinshou voting.

After renowned success he was part of a blockbuster deal where he was traded by the Rio Grande Valley Ocelots (present day San Juan) to the San Antonio Calzones of Laredo, along with 1B Hidemichi Okubo, a 4th draft pick, a 7th draft pick, a 8th draft pick, in exchange for 1B Octávio Pexego, SP Bob Harris, SP Stephen Clark, MR Xavier Gómes, CF Pablo Cabrera. Then things would take a turn for the more difficult where the injury bug struck Jose with that season sustaining: 05/01/2021 Injured (back soreness), out for 2 weeks; 06/15/2021 Injured (dead arm), out for 3 days; 07/03/2021 Injured (high ankle sprain), out for 4 weeks; 08/26/2021 Injured (bruised forearm), day-to-day for 5 days; 08/31/2021 Injured (bruised shoulder), day-to-day for one week; 09/03/2021 Suffered setback in recovery from injury, will miss another 6 days. Despite the setbacks he batted .317/.391/.407 for the season appearing in 119 games with 442 at bats.

At the conclusion of the 2021 season Jose was traded by the San Antonio Calzones of Laredo to the Lupin Cliff Hangers (present day Toyama), along with a 3rd draft pick, in exchange for CL Jo Kichida where he would remain through the 2027 season. Jose's best hitting season came at 34 years old with Toyama in 2026 where he batted .354/.412/.449 resulting in 5.9 WAR for the season. Jose finished 3rd in 2026 PEBA SL Royal Raker Award voting and won the 2026 PEBA SL Platinum Stick Award at 2B. The injury bug would strike again however in 2027 and limit Jose to 40 games.

In the 2027 off-season as a free agent Jose signed a 3-year contract worth a total of $36,000,000 with the Scottish Claymores. With Scottish in 2028 Jose bounced back with .339/.410/.474 an OPS+ of 158 and WAR of 5.9. In his final PEBA season in 2030 he notably on 05/28/2030 went 5-5 against the Havana Leones, with one double, 1 RBI and 4 Runs. He finishes he career with fielding stats of a lifetime +12.9 ZR and 1.028 efficiency rating. At the conclusion of the 2030 season Jose was released into free agency where he signed a minor league deal with Toyama, but did not make the active roster.

He played with AAA Yokohama for 42 games until being release and then picked up by Crystal Lake for another 15 games at AAA. With his defensive ratings falling along with declining hitting ability at 40 years old Jose decided to hang it up with nothing left out on the field. Most impressive during his career was his continued high-level performance after the age of 30.

[Borealis]

After renowned success he was part of a blockbuster deal where he was traded by the Rio Grande Valley Ocelots (present day San Juan) to the San Antonio Calzones of Laredo, along with 1B Hidemichi Okubo, a 4th draft pick, a 7th draft pick, a 8th draft pick, in exchange for 1B Octávio Pexego, SP Bob Harris, SP Stephen Clark, MR Xavier Gómes, CF Pablo Cabrera.

WOW!! When was the last time we had an 'El Chupacabra' sighting? Still the only player to average an RBI per game in a season! Mark Gunter and George Crocker had fun with him on their radio show one day...

[Sandgnats]

Truly!!!