Free Agent Profile: Carlos Santana, 1B
Carlos Santana
Position: 1B B/T: S/R
Age: 38 (4/8/1986)
2024 Traditional Stats: 23 HR, 71 RBI, .238/.328/.420/.749, 26 2B, 594 PA
2024 Advanced Stats: 2.5 bWAR, 3.0 fWAR, 109 OPS+, 114 wRC+, 16.7 SO%, 10.9 BB%, .252 BABIP, .330 xwOBA
Matt Blewett-Imagn Images
Rundown
If you plopped the season 38-year-old Carlos Santana had in 2024 into his prime, it wouldn’t look all that out of place. In fact, in his age 29 season Santana hit fewer home runs (19) in more plate appearances (666) and had an OPS just three points higher.
Santana, who came to the Twins as a free agent last offseason, led the club in homers and RBIs, and he won his first Gold Glove, with his 14 outs above average, leading all first basemen. (To pick one random first baseman for contrast, Pete Alonso‘s OAA was -9, ranked 39th.)
“He’s making everybody on our infield better every single day, with the way he picks every single throw that we throw in the dirt,” Carlos Correa said during the season, per MLB.com. “I think when you seriously consider his numbers, there’s nobody better in the American League, numbers-wise.”
Santana, who came up as a catcher, became the oldest first-time Gold Glove winner for a position player and the third oldest overall, behind Phil Niekro (1978) and R.A. Dickey (2013).
Santana played 10 of his first 11 seasons with Cleveland (he took a one-year sabbatical in 2018 in Philadelphia) and surprisingly only made the All-Star team once (2019) despite hitting 20+ homers seven times in those seasons and walking 90+ times six years in a row. (He led the American League in walks in 2014 and 2020.)
Since 2021, he has moved around quite a bit, playing for the Royals, Pirates, Brewers, Mariners and Twins. Yet, he’s been consistent even as he’s aged. He has a .242/.354/.431/.785 career slash line to go with 324 home runs and 38 bWAR. In 30 playoff games, he’s slashed .205/.310/.365 with five homers in 129 plate appearances.
Contract
Santana played 2024 on a one-year, $5.25 million contract. He seems like a popular fallback option for several teams with a need at first base. The Twins are reportedly interested in re-signing him, and the Mariners may want to bring him back to Seattle, where he played 79 games in 2022. His agent, Ulises Cabrera, told Jon Morosi of MLB.com he wants to play for up to four more years.
Recommendation
He’s hit 23 homers in each of the last two seasons and 19 homers apiece in the two years before that. Until he proves otherwise, I would pencil Santana in for about 20 homers a year. Couple that with Gold Glove defense and he is a decent bet to outplay the one-year contract someone should offer him. I wouldn’t mind him on the Mets if other options (read: Pete Alonso) fall through.
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