Alcides Escobar (born December 16, 1986) is a Venezuelan professional baseball infielder for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB with the Milwaukee Brewers and Kansas City Royals and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
On July 9, 2003, Escobar signed with the Milwaukee Brewers as an international free agent for $35,000 at age 16. Escobar made his professional debut in 2004 with the rookie-level Helena Brewers. In 2005, he played for the Single-A West Virginia Power, batting .271/.305/.362 with 2 home runs and 36 RBI.
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. In 2011 he batted .254/.290/.343 with 4 home runs and 46 RBI in 158 games.
On July 2, 2021, Escobar was traded to the Washington Nationals in exchange for cash considerations. He was selected to the active roster on July 3. On July 18, Escobar hit his first major-league home run since the 2018 season against the San Diego Padres to pull the Nationals within one run in the eighth inning, and hit a walk-off single in the ninth to lead them to an 8–7 victory.
Escobar finished out the 2021 season with the Nationals batting .288/.340/.404, his best totals since 2012; he then signed a one-year contract extension through the 2022 season on October 5, 2021. In 2021, he had the lowest average exit velocity of all major league batters, at 81.7 mph.