Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Eduardo Escobar returns to Arizona this weekend, the state he called home when he earned his first career All-Star appearance as a Diamondback in 2021.

Through two weeks of this season, Escobar is replicating that All-Star form, and is putting himself in a good position for another All-Star selection – although this time as a New York Met.

It’s those full circle moments that are often baseball’s coolest.

Through 56 plate appearances this year, Escobar has asserted himself as one of the best hitters in the Mets lineup. He’s slashing .318/.464/.591 with an over 190 OPS, more than 80 points better than what he posted in his time split with Arizona and Milwaukee in 2021.

Notably, Escobar is tied for the major league lead with seven doubles, including two of those extra base knocks in last week’s series versus the Diamondbacks. His knack for the two-bagger is nothing new, as he collected 110 of those hits between 2018 and 2021.

More surprising is the amount of walks that Escobar has accumulated in such a short period for a guy that historically has walked 7-8% of the time. This season with the Mets, Esocbar is walking a whopping 21.4% of the time.

That combination of walks and doubles to start a Mets career is rare, in fact no other player has ever done it before. Escobar is the first player in Mets history to have at least nine extra base hits and 12 walks in their first 13 games with the franchise.

But doubles and walks are not the only part of Escobar’s game at the plate. After hitting 28 home runs last season, Escobar hit his first home run as a Met on Thursday afternoon, one which teammate Francisco Lindor said was “lucky”. If anyone is lucky in this story though, it’s the Mets front office, who gave out a two-year, $20 million contract to Escobar this winter.

At this rate, Escobar’s contract, at $10 million a year, is looking like an absolute bargain, especially in the age of today’s inflated contract values. For a team that has lacked major offensive productive at the third base position ever since David Wright‘s heyday, Escobar is looking to be the solution at the hot corner in Queens – even if just for the short-term.