Orioles sign Alcides Escobar to minor league deal

For the first time since 2010, Alcides Escobar will not be wearing a Kansas City Royals uniform. The Baltimore Orioles have signed the 32-year old shortstop to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training.

Escobar has spent the last eight years with the Royals, after making his debut with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was acquired in a six-player trade with the Brewers along with Lorenzo Cain for pitcher Zack Greinke after the 2010 season. Escobar was an All-Star in 2015, earning his only Gold Glove Award that year. In October, he won ALCS MVP by hitting .478/.481/.652 against the Blue Jays. He then led off the bottom of the first in the World Series by hitting an inside-the-park home run against the Mets.

Escobar was known for a free-swinging approach with the Royals, but he was an exemplary defender and he could stay on the field, playing all 162 games in a season three times in his career. The Royals brought him back on a one-year deal last year, and he hit .231/.279/.313 with four home runs in 531 plate appearances.

Escobar ranks eighth all-time in Royals history in games played (1,245), eighth in steals (160), ninth in hits (1,208), tenth in doubles (207), and eleventh in runs scored (526).