Carlos Santana helps lead Indians to AL Central Title

Phil Gurnee ♦ October 3, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

The Guitar is now 30 years old and has hit 151 home runs while walking over six hundred times.

In 2016 the Indians decided to take advantage of his patience and moved him to the lead off spot.  Santana started 85 games from the leadoff spot and rewarded the Indians with a .385 OBP in those 85 games, and a .886 OPS.  This was the first time he had ever hit lead off in his major league career.

His combination of patience and power has always set him a tad apart from his contemporaries, and as this play index shows, his skill set is usually reserved for the elite.

Only thirteen players this century have hit at least 150 home runs and walked over six hundred times by the age of 30.

Player	HR	BB	OPS	Age	Years
Albert Pujols	408	914	1.050	21-30	2001-2010
Lance Berkman	221	678	0.990	24-30	2000-2006
Alex Rodriguez	316	610	0.985	24-30	2000-2006
Miguel Cabrera	365	799	0.967	20-30	2003-2013
Joey Votto	163	611	0.950	23-30	2007-2014
Mark Teixeira	275	616	0.913	23-30	2003-2010
Prince Fielder	288	751	0.910	21-30	2005-2014
Adam Dunn	354	990	0.902	21-30	2001-2010
David Wright	222	671	0.888	21-30	2004-2013
Troy Glaus	247	615	0.882	23-30	2000-2007
Andrew McCutchen	175	612	0.869	22-29	2009-2016
Pat Burrell	218	683	0.849	23-30	2000-2007
Carlos Santana	151	638	0.809	24-30	2010-2016

He’s clearly the worst hitter of this group, but he made the club. He and Lance Berkman are the only two switch-hitters in the group.

Carlos was primarily a DH this year after playing 406 games at 1st, 330 games at catcher, 26 at 3rd, and one in LF over the course of his fine career.

Carlos has been an Indian so long now that he is in the top five of just about every Indian offensive category this century.

• 2nd in home runs (151)
• 3rd in runs scored (483)
• 5th in doubles (199)
• 3rd in RBI (508)
• 1st in walks (638)
• 4th in bWAR at 21.2
• 4th in OPS+ (122) minimum 1500 Plate Appearances

His bat will play at DH just fine thank you.