BOSTON _ Twins third baseman Eduardo Escobar has been traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for three prospects, the teams announced Friday. Miguel Sano will be recalled from Class AAA Rochester to replace Escobar on the roster in time for Saturday's game against the Red Sox.
The Twins will receive three Class A players from the Diamondbacks: right-handed pitcher Jhoan Duran, 20; and outfielders Ernie De La Trinidad, 22, and Gabriel Maciel, 19.
Escobar, who leads the major leagues in doubles with 37, is enjoying the best season of his career just in time to become a free agent this November. He's batting .274 with a .514 slugging average, and hit his 15th home run on Tuesday in Toronto. His strong play has helped the Twins remain near .500 despite being without Sano for the past six weeks.
Escobar, named the Twins winner of the Heart and Hustle Award earlier this week, is perhaps the most popular member of the team among his teammates.
Twins players found out about the trade from a screen crawl on the MLB Network as they were preparing for Friday night's game against the Red Sox; Escobar quickly left the clubhouse to catch a plane for San Diego, where the Diamondbacks are playing the Padres this weekend.
Joe Mauer, the longest tenured Twin, said emotions were raw as players said goodbye to someone who has played in Minnesota for seven seasons; Escobar came to the Twins at the 2012 trade deadline from the White Sox for pitcher Francisco Liriano.
"It's kind of a punch in the gut," Mauer said. "There are a lot of guys hurting. Esky means a lot to a lot of guys in that clubhouse."
Sano, assigned to Class A Fort Myers in mid-June, was promoted a week ago to Rochester, where he's batting .267 with two home runs in nine games.
Duran is a 6-5 right-hander who made 15 starts for Arizona's Low-A affiliate Kane County this season, going 5-4 with a 4.73 ERA (64.2 innings pitched, 34 earned runs), 28 walks and 71 strikeouts. He is a native of the Dominican Republic.
Maciel was signed by the Diamondbacks in 2016 out of Brazil. In 68 games for Kane County, he hit .287 with one home run and 14 stolen bases.
De la Trinidad was a 19th-round choice in 2017 and has a .306 average in two seasons in the Diamondbacks system.
The 29-year-old Escobar has been playing regularly this season after an 80-game suspension to shortstop Jorge Polanco and the demotion of Sano. Escobar is making $4.85 million this season.
The MLB nonwaiver trade deadline is Tuesday.
