Carlos Santana, C, Cleveland Indians
4/8/1986
Height: 5’11″ Weight: 185
Bats: S Throws: R
Signed: 2004 by the Dodgers out of the Dominican Republic
Bonus: $75,000
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Let’s cut to the chase about Santana’s history and say that he was moving quickly up the prospect charts as a possible top bat at catcher back in 2008 when the Dodgers were in the hunt for a possible World Series run and needed a Corner Infield bat. So the decision was made to trade Carlos Santana along with Jonathan Meloan for Casey Blake. While Blake has been a productive major leaguer for the Dodgers, Santana has continued to refine his skills as a catcher and prove that his bat was no fluke. Switch hitting catchers with contact skills and power are few and far between. Add in that he’s an excellent baseball player and has the smarts to continue to get better as a backstop. Let’s take a look at the peripherals and see what’s under the hood with Santana.
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There is a very good amount of data in Santana’s career thus far and its easy to see why he’s so hyped as a prospect. His bb% has always been good with very little fluctuation from year to year and level to level. While his k% jumped after being traded in 2008 it’s showing to be the outlier and more a cause and effect of the trade and him getting settled. He walks as much as he strikes out if not more and at a young age that is an excellent sign. Take into account a growing IsoP throughout his years and a tack on his LD% being around 20% over the past 3 seasons and Santana could be a very special hitter indeed. When you put together an above average eye and an above average line drive percentage you have a strong possibility of hitting good pitches hard somewhere. Just like my Dad told be growing up, “just hit the ball hard and good things will happen.” Add in some good raw power and you have a high average with above league average power. Carlos Santana is a catcher. In case I didn’t mention that five times already.
Let’s take this over to Aaron Bentley for a breakdown of Santana’s swing mechanics.
{+}SETUP
Santana has a very normal setup. There is a ton of movement in his bat, however, and he doesn’t place his front foot all the way on the ground. Instead, only his front toes make contact with the ground.
HEAD MOVEMENT
There is way too much head movement during Santana’s setup. However, he did make some progress on this throughout last season and has much less head movement that he had previously. Hopefully this is a progression that will continue.
LOWER HALF
Santana uses his lower half beautifully to create torque and power. He plants his front foot firmly, begins to create rotation with his hips, and lets his hips guide his hands through the zone. This part of Santana’s swing makes it clear why he can hit for a lot of power when the rest of his swing is working in concert.
STRIDE
Sometimes I see Santana’s stride and think there is too much to it but other times he seems to simplify it and simply have a little toe tap timing maneuver. When he keeps the stride simple, he drives toward the pitcher purposefully and uses that drive to start his hip rotation.
EXTENSION
Santana gets absolutely great extension. He gets his arms all the way extended and is able to cover the entirety of the plate.
CONCLUSION
There are times when Santana keeps his head movement to a minimum and keeps his stride simple and when he does those things you can see a hitter who will hit for average and power. When he starts moving around a lot and creating a lot of motion before he ever swings, I worry he will not be able to hit consistently. Santana has a beautiful swing when everything is going correctly. If he can stay simple consistently, he will be one of the best offensive catchers in the game.
OUR INSTINCT
Carlos Santana is still in the learning process of becoming a true field general for Cleveland. But the fact is that he’s the catcher of the future and the here and now for the Indians. Defensively he has an excellent arm and aptitude to continually learn and better his trade. He’s going to stick at catcher and as long as he can keep his swing mechanics in check he should avoid long term slumps and be very effective on both sides of the ball. Santana could be a .300/25/90 catcher in his prime and may have a couple of 30+ HR seasons. There aren’t many prospects in baseball who can boast that type of upside and even fewer that do so while playing the most demanding defensive position in the game.
