Alcides Escobar (Spanish: [alˈsiðes eskoˈβaɾ]) (born December 16, 1986) is a Venezuelan professional baseball infielder who is a free agent.

[2][3] Escobar began playing baseball when he was four years old, stating how he idolized fellow Venezuelan shortstop Omar Vizquel.

[4] On July 9, 2003 (at age 16), Escobar signed with the Milwaukee Brewers as an international free agent for $35,000.

On September 1, 2008 (when rosters expanded), Escobar was called up to the Majors for the first time, and made his debut two days later as a defensive replacement at shortstop.

He picked up his first career hit in his first at bat in the same game, a single against pitcher Scott Schoeneweis of the New York Mets.

[8] On August 12, Escobar was called up to the Brewers from the Triple-A Nashville Sounds to replace J. J. Hardy, who had been optioned down.

He made his first major league appearance of the season that night, pinch running for Prince Fielder in the bottom of the 9th inning against the San Diego Padres.

[11] On December 18, 2010, the Brewers traded Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Jeremy Jeffress and Jake Odorizzi to the Kansas City Royals for Zack Greinke and Yuniesky Betancourt.

[3] On March 15, 2012, Escobar signed a four-year, $10 million extension through 2015 with club options for 2016 and 2017 with the Royals.

[16] In 2014, Escobar (along with Evan Longoria, Hunter Pence and Freddie Freeman) was one of the only players in the MLB to start in all 162 regular season games for their respective teams.

[22] In Game 1 of the 2015 World Series, Escobar hit an inside-the-park home run on the first pitch thrown by New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey.

[27] On June 3, Escobar got his 1000th career Major League hit against Cleveland Indians pitcher Danny Salazar.

[32] On February 16, 2019, Escobar signed a minor-league contract with the Baltimore Orioles which included an invitation to spring training.

[34] On March 22, 2019, Escobar signed a minor league deal with the Chicago White Sox.

[36] On October 30, 2019, Escobar signed with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

On July 15, Escobar hit his first career NPB home run off Hanshin Tigers pitcher Onelki García.

[41] On May 4, 2021, Escobar signed a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals organization and was assigned to the Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers.

[48] Escobar made his pitching debut against the Philadelphia Phillies, tossing a scoreless inning in the bottom of the 8th on July 5, 2022.