LA Angels New Addition Eduardo Escobar Placed on Restricted List as He Prepares for U.S. Citizenship Test

Eduardo Escobar is hitting the U.S. history books, not baseballs, these days…

Three days after the Los Angeles Angels acquired him from the New York Mets, the 34-year-old Venezuelan professional baseball player has been placed on the restricted list.

Eduardo Escobar,The reason: Escobar is scheduled to take his United States citizenship test on Tuesday in Miami.

Escobar hails from Venezuela and now lives in Miami with his wife and children. The citizenship test was already in his plans before the Mets executed the trade.

The Angels have a home series against the Chicago White Sox beginning Monday night. Escobar could return Wednesday in time for the third game of a four-game series.

The Mets traded Escobar and cash considerations to the Angels on Friday night in exchange for Double-A right-handed pitchers Landon Marceaux and Coleman Crow.

Escobar’s Angels debut came in the team’s 25-1 thrashing of the Colorado Rockies on Saturday. Escobar did his part by going 2-for-4 with four runs and one RBI. He had another two hits in Sunday’s series finale, including a triple.

In 42 games with the Mets and Angels this season, Escobar is batting .254 with four home runs, 17 RBIs and 20 runs.

In a related move, Los Angeles recalled outfielder Jo Adell from Triple-A Salt Lake.

Adell, 24, has spent most of the season at Triple-A after playing 161 games for the Angels in his first three MLB seasons. In Adell’s lone major league game of 2023, he hit a solo home run in three at-bats during a 3-1 win over the Chicago Cubs on June 8.

Angels catcher Chris Okey also cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Salt Lake.

Efren Navarro Helps Send Mexico to the Olympic Baseball Tournament for First Time at the 2020 Tokyo Games

Efren Navarro has helped his country make Olympichistory…

The 33-year-oldMexican-American professional baseball first baseman and left fielder hit a broken-bat single against Caleb Thielbar on Sunday to drive in the winning run in the 10thinning and give Mexico a 3-2 win over the United States at the Tokyo Dome, allowing Mexico to qualify for the Olympic baseball tournament for the first time.

Efren Navarro

Prior to Navarro’s single,,Matt Clark hit a tying home run off former St. Louis Cardinals pitcherBrandon Dicksonleading off the bottom of the ninth inning.

Mexico joined host Japan, South Korea and Israel in the six-nation field for next summer’s 2020 Tokyo Games and earned the bronze medal in the Premier12 tournament, which served as qualifying. 

The United States will play next spring in the Americas tournament, which determines one of the two remaining Olympic berths.

Jo Adell, the 10th overall pick by the Los Angeles Angels in the 2017 amateur draft, homered in the first against Tampa‘s Arturo ReyesMilwaukee‘s Cody Ponce, the U.S. starter, allowed three hits in five scoreless innings with six strikeouts and a walk.

Clark, who played 16 games for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2014, tied it in the sixth with a bases-loaded, two-out single off Kansas City Royals prospect Daniel Tillo. Clark had missed part of the tournament with an Achilles tendon injury and limped at times. The Boston Red Sox‘s Bobby Dalbec ended a 0-for-10 slide with an RBI single in the seventh off Jesus Riosfor a 2-1 lead.

Under tournament rules, extra innings start with runners on first and second.

Dalbec sacrificed leading off the 10th and the Atlanta BravesDrew Walters was intentionally walked. Winner Carlos Bustamante struck out Philadelphia‘s Alec Bohm, then retired Tampa Bay’s Jake Cronenworthon a flyout.

Jon Jonessacrificed on a 1-2 pitch leading off the bottom half against Dickson, who pitched for the Cardinals in 2011 and ’12. Esteban Quiroz was intentionally walked and U.S. manager Scott Brosiusbrought in Thielbar, a left-hander who finished the season in Atlanta’s minor league system and became a free agent, to face the left-handed-hitting Navarro, whose last major league experience was four games for the Chicago Cubs in 2018. Navarro singled to center.

The Mexicans are managed by Juan Castro. He’ll be an infield coach next season for Philadelphia manager Joe Girardi, who was to manage the U.S. team but quit to take the Phillies job.

Mexico had beaten the U.S. 8-2 in the group stage on November 3 at Guadalajara, Mexico. The U.S. got in position to play for a berth only because South Korea defeated Mexico 7-3 and Taiwan defeated Australia 5-1 in the super round.

Japan beat South Korea 5-3 later Sunday for the Premier12 gold medal.