How Much Does Fogo Power Eduardo Escobar?

Professional athletes have something within them to summon strength, focus and poise to deliver in the biggest moments.

For Diamondbacks infielder Eduardo Escobar, it’s Fogo Power.

Escobar’s love of the Brazilian steakhouse Fogo de Chão dates back to his days with the Minnesota Twins. You’ll see #FOGOPower all over his social media, and it’s become a term of comradery among the club’s players, staff and fans.

“(It’s has) really great people and a great restaurant,” Escobar said. “Every time I go to Fogo de Chão, come to the field, hit a double or homer, I say ‘Fogo Power.’ The restaurant, I love it. My family enjoys it over there.”

But how much does Fogo fuel Escobar? 

I took on the task to find out.

I poured over Escobar’s batting average splits in all 30 active ballparks. Fogo de Chão has locations in 20 cities with Major League ballparks, and Escobar has had at-bats in 19 of them with Philadelphia being the lone exception.

In the 10 cities that do not have a Fogo de Chão location, the Diamondbacks infielder is hitting above .270 in only two of them (Tampa Bay and Toronto). In total, he’s hitting .226 in those ballparks.

The mere presence of a Fogo de Chão in the city where he’s hitting raises his batting average to .262. If the location is within 10 miles of the ballpark, his batting average jumps to .268.

There are six cities that have a Fogo de Chão a mile or closer to their ballpark: Minneapolis, San Diego, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Colorado and Baltimore.

Escobar has a batting average of .292 in those ballparks.

So the Brazilian steakhouse residing in the city he’s hitting improves Escobar’s batting average by 36 points. But the #FogoPower raises his batting average 30 additional points the closer he gets to the all-you-can-eat goodness.

“I’m telling you, we need to put a Fogo de Chão in this stadium somewhere because I love these numbers when there’s Fogo power,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said when shown the data.

Fogo de Chão’s Scottsdale location is 13.8 miles from Chase Field, but Escobar must bring some leftovers with him to the ballpark as he is career .291 hitter at his home ballpark.

If these numbers hold true, Lovullo may want to carve out space in the dugout for sword-cut meats to ensure the Escobar’s at-bats are cooked to perfection.