Pittsburgh Pirates: Looking at Carlos Santana’s Career So Far

(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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Pittsburgh Pirates, Carlos Santana
(Photo by Brian Kersey/Getty Images) /

Cleveland Guardians 2010-2017

Carlos Santana started his Big League career with Cleveland and is most noted for his time there.  He spent a lot of years in the middle of Clevelands’ lineup.  As a switch-hitting first baseman, Santana was known for having pop in his bat from both sides of the plate.

He hit a total of 174 home runs with Cleveland during his first 8 years there, which is good for over 20 per season.  These numbers also came during the groundball pitcher era, when there were not a whole lot of players hitting above 30 home runs. Furthermore, he was consistent with doubles hitting at least 25 in each season from 2011-2017.

His last two seasons in Cleveland were his best ones.  In his age 30 and 31 seasons, he posted career highs in WAR, surpassing 3.0 in each of those years.  He also hit a career-high in home runs with 34 in 2016.  In 2017 he saw a dip in that homerun production as he posted 23 long balls on the season.  While his power numbers dipped some, his defense continued to shine as he was named a Gold Glove finalist also. Santana would be a free agent and leave Cleveland after the 2017 season to cash in on his success.