ANAHEIM ¨C Before the Guardians¡¯ 10-4 loss to the Angels got away from them on Saturday, Carlos Santana gave his team a shot.
He put the Guards on the board first, jumping on a 95.9 mph sinker that just touched the outer part of the plate and launching it into the center field stands for a towering 415-foot home run to give his team an early 1-0 lead.
¡°I felt good now that I¡¯ve hit my first one of the year, thanks to God,¡± Santana said in Spanish. ¡°I was able to look for my pitch, and I connected with it.¡±
Santana wasn¡¯t calling it a night after that, though. He scored the tying run in the third inning on a groundout to shortstop. He drew a two-out walk in the fifth to load the bases, although that would end up being a huge missed opportunity. In the eighth, with the score already out of hand, Santana capped off his line a single.
Saturday¡¯s performance continues a trend that¡¯s shown up throughout Santana¡¯s career: He rakes at Angel Stadium. In 46 career games at the Big A, he¡¯s hit 14 home runs and logged 43 RBIs with a slugging percentage of .553. He¡¯s driven in a run in six of his past seven games in Anaheim, with Friday night¡¯s series opener as the lone exception.
¡°I¡¯m comfortable at this stadium,¡± he said. ¡°I see the ball well. The weather here helps a lot, too. I thank God that I¡¯ve been able to put up really good numbers here, and it brings the best out of me when I get the opportunity to play here.¡±
The first-inning homer was Santana¡¯s first in this most recent stint with the Guardians, but it was just the latest of many in his long and storied career with the club ¨C it was also his 217th in a Cleveland uniform, breaking a tie with Hal Trosky to move into sole possession of sixth place on the team¡¯s all-time home run list.
¡°Congratulations to him on climbing the leaderboard,¡± manager Stephen Vogt said. ¡°Anytime you've played that long, you're gonna start to get on some leaderboards. And he's been a great player for a long time.¡±
A long time, indeed.
Santana turns 39 on April 8, making him one of the oldest active players in the big leagues. He debuted in Cleveland in 2010, two years after the club acquired him as a coveted catching prospect in a trade that sent Casey Blake to the Dodgers. He spent the first seven years of his career with the club before signing a three-year, $60 million contract with the Phillies in 2018.
He ultimately found his way back a year later as a result of another trade, and spent the next two seasons in Cleveland -- including his lone All-Star season in 2019, the year it was coincidentally hosted at Progressive Field.
Sixteen years. Seven teams. That¡¯s the kind of experience that Santana brings, and he¡¯s no elder statesman either. He can still be one of the most productive bats as they come in the Majors, as shown on Saturday. He¡¯s a leader in the clubhouse, but he¡¯s more of the lead by example type.
¡°If he wants to make his voice heard, he'll do that,¡± Bo Naylor said. ¡°But for the most part, he knows that with this young crew, you¡¯ve got to go out there and do everything. Play hard, and just go out there with the right mindset. And he does that every day.¡±
That example that Naylor¡¯s seen is exactly what the Guardians are going to be relying on, especially as the grind of the season goes on. They brought him back for a third spell right after trading away first baseman Josh Naylor (Bo¡¯s brother), who was second on the team in home runs and RBIs in 2024, trailing only Jos¨¦ Ram¨ªrez.
The Guardians spent all of the $12 million they would have saved by shipping off Josh Naylor on Santana. That¡¯s how much they believe in him. That¡¯s the standard.
And as he¡¯s shown throughout his career, Santana¡¯s more than up for the task.
¡°There¡¯s a lot of good guys here,¡± he said. ¡°Young guys with a lot of hunger for the game. I¡¯ll always give the best of myself to help the cause, and to be the best. We have a good team. We haven¡¯t had a great start, but it¡¯s a long season.¡±