Santana is a Royals killer

Carlos Santana has been playing baseball in the majors for 15 years. Santana played in Kansas City for two seasons, 2021 and 2022. The first baseman's numbers while in a Royals uniform weren't bad, but they weren't exactly great either. While in Kansas City, Santana had a batting average of .215, just above the Mendoza Line. Before signing his two-year deal with the Royals, Santana had a great career with 216 home runs and a whopping 710 RBIs. As his career is likely nearing its end, we continue to see him decline at the plate.
Santana may be aging, but when he's up to bat against the Royals, it's a different story. The 38-year-old has played a total of 159 games against Kansas City, and he gives the Royals and their fans fits. The first baseman owns an eye-opening .286 batting average just against the Royals. It gets worse. Santana has faced Royals pitching 566 times (a number that will increase as his career continues). He has batted in 88 runs against Kansas City alone. The first baseman has a total of 162 hits against them, 31 of them being home runs. Santana's nickname, Slamtana, makes plenty of sense for someone of his caliber who hit home runs regularly earlier in his career.
The 38-year-old has over 100 hits against Kansas City. Santana's ability to drive in runs against the Royals is impressive in itself, with an eye-opening 93 RBIs. His strikeout rate against the Royals is also notable, with only 92 strikeouts. Santana, as mentioned earlier, has faced Kansas City pitching over 500 times.
Santana's time in a Cleveland uniform was special. He played in Cleveland for ten seasons, finishing his tenure with a .251 batting average, 216 home runs, 710 RBIs, 1,197 hits, and 717 runs. He also walked a whopping 881 times. The first baseman ranks fifth in franchise history for the most home runs, behind only Earl Averill, Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle, and Jim Thome. Home runs aren't the only things in which Santana ranks high in Cleveland's record books. He ranks number 10 in doubles (273) and number two in walks. However, Santana struggled with strikeouts, with a disappointing 963, and he also hit into 126 double plays.
Santana had one heck of a run in Cleveland with all those great numbers, but he likely won't end up in Cooperstown or the Cleveland Hall of Fame, but we'll have to see. Many fans, including myself, hoped his time in Cleveland was up and we wouldn't have to see him again except on occasion. But boy, were we wrong. In some ways, I believe the Twins signed Santana just to kill Royals pitching and maybe even annoy Royals fans a bit. Minnesota signed the 38-year-old to a one-year deal worth $5.25 million guaranteed plus performance incentives.
Twins President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey explained why the Twins signed the 38-year-old slugger: "Cool day on a lot of fronts to introduce Carlos Santana as the newest member of the Twins. This is a guy who is a leader, is a tremendous teammate who shows up every day to play, and is going to be a guy who will do anything you ask of him. We felt like this was a great fit for our organization." Santana himself was thrilled to sign with the Twins: "There’s a lot of reasons why I came to the Twins. One of them is I’ve known Derek since I was in the Cleveland organization. We’ve always played against the Twins, I like their stadium, and I’m very happy to be a part of Twins Territory now."
Aside from Santana's numbers against the Royals, the first baseman provides depth for the Twins, who have struggled to find a first baseman who can stay healthy. Santana owns the American League Central, and my goodness, has he played against teams in the division a lot with Cleveland and Kansas City (not including Minnesota)—a total of 770 games. The slugger has smacked the ball around 676 times in 2,788 at-bats. Santana's ability to hit the ball out of the yard against the Central is quite impressive. The 38-year-old has hit 117 home runs and counting. The first baseman knows how to drive in runs; Santana has an incredible 390 RBIs and counting. Santana has more hits against the division than strikeouts, with 507 swings and misses compared to his impressive 676 hits. That's quite an eye-opener if you ask me. Unfortunately for the Royals, unless the pitching staff can figure out a way to handle Santana, he will continue to tee off on Kansas City pitching.








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