Cleveland Indians: What About Carlos Santana?

With the Cleveland Indians acquisition of Mike Napoli, it appears at the least that Carlos Santana has been bumped from first base. Has the Tribe lost faith in just his defense, or are there deeper concerns?

After showing his potential at the plate in 2013, the Cleveland Indians believed they had something special in Carlos Santana. A big man who–while striking out a lot, also took his walks and got on base. 2014 saw his home run total jump to 27 while still taking 113 walks, but Santana’s average dropped to .231. A 4+ WAR the two previous years, a slight drop to 3.0 convinced the Indians to make some changes.

Santana–who was brought up as a catcher but was also seeing time at third base and designated hitter–was moved to first base permanently for 2015 to help him focus his efforts at the plate. Santana was able to drive in 85 runs, but he left a lot of runs on the bases–but who didn’t for the Indians–while also seeing his home run total fall to 19. In short he was almost being TOO patient at the plate and often times missing his pitch.

He’ll be 30 in April, and the Indians now make another change at first and leave Santana to be the designated hitter. His “best” position was first, but Napoli is an upgrade defensively. He’s not much of a catcher, and Giovanny Urshela looks like he has first dibs on third base, So what does this mean for Santana?

What it means is Santana has to show that he can put that patience together with driving the ball in run-scoring situations. Santana is in his final year of his contract with a team option for 2017. Napoli is a short-term..solution? That doesn’t sound right, but we’ll call it that for now. Urshela is also trying to find his footing at the plate, but is a stellar defender at the hot corner. Santana’s plate presence is what makes him valuable, and he needs to showcase it this year.

Next: Indians sign Gorzelanny to minor league deal

Where Terry Francona bats him in the order could go a long way to helping that. Taking him out of a “run-producing” slot and moving him up or down could take the pressure of him to drive in runs while allowing him to be patient at the plate and be a table setter. He’s not a prototypical top of the lineup guy, but he takes his walks and sees a lot of pitches (4.30 PPA, 2nd in the AL).

Whatever the case, 2016 is a turning point season for Santana–it’s just a matter of turning his numbers around, or turning and leaving Cleveland after this season if they don’t pick up his option.