Carlos Santana Wins First Gold Glove Award

[Seth Stohs]

In his 15th major-league season, first baseman Carlos Santana earned his first Gold Glove for his terrific play at first base for the 2024 Minnesota Twins. 

Image courtesy of © Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

When Carlos Santana made his MLB debut way back in 2010, he was a hit-first catcher. Yes, he was a catcher, but he was in the big leagues because he could hit. Over the course of the next four seasons, he got more and more playing time at first base in Cleveland. 

Santana was very reliable with the bat early in his career, nearly guaranteed to hit 19 or more home runs and drive in a bunch of runs. He also walked over 90 times most seasons. But, he was a bat-first first baseman which works when you are providing as much offense as he typically did. 

On Sunday night, after the conclusion of his 15th season in the big leagues, and at 38 years old, Santana won his first Gold Glove Award. And he was the clear choice at the position. While the overall Twins defense was very poor at many positions throughout the season, Santana really stood out for his great defense. 

It was the first Gold Glove won by a Twins player since Byron Buxton and Brian Dozier were recipients in 2017. 

However, he has continued to work on his defense, and was rewarded for those efforts with the Gold Glove. Ryan Mountcastle of the Orioles and Nathaniel Lowe of the Rangers were the other two finalists for the award. 

No one looks simply at Fielding Percentage, but Santana had just four errors and a .996 fielding percentage. Mountcastle was at .997, and Low was at .995. No AL first baseman played more than the 1,250 innings that Santana played. 

Santana accumulated 14 Outs Above Average (OOA). In the AL, Lowe was second with 7 OAA. Mountcastle had just 2 OAA. 

Do you prefer Defensive Runs Saved? Santana and Mountcastle tied for the AL lead at 7 DRS.  Another FanGraphs defensive stat, "Range," finds Carlos Santana tops among all MLB first baseman. His "11" is one better than Arizona's Christian Walker. Number 3 on that list are Bryce Harper and Nathaniel Lowe at just "5." 

Gone are the days when offensive numbers played a factor in Gold Glove voting. Over about the past decade, as defensive metrics have vastly improved, these are truly defensive awards. Gone are the days - like 1999 - when Rafael Palmeiro won his third straight AL Gold Glove at first base despite playing just 28 games at the position. That year, Palmeiro hit .324/.420/.630 (1.050) with 30 doubles, 47 RBI, and 148 RBI. Of course, Twins fans remember Doug Mientkiewicz playing the season at first base, with a .997 fielding percentage, a very high Range Factor, and Web Gems galore. Of course, he hit just .229/.324/.330 (.655) with 21 doubles and two home runs. 

FYI - Mientkiewicz was the last Twins first baseman to win a Gold Glove. He earned it in 2001. Vic Power of the Twins was the AL Gold Glove winning first baseman in 1962 and 1963. 

It is a great thing that the Gold Gloves are now handed out based on defensive abilities! 

Over the past four seasons, Carlos Santana has been a bit of a nomad. He has spent time with the Royals, the Mariners, the Pirates, and the Brewers before joining the Twins on a one-year deal before the 2024 season. As of last week, at the conclusion of the World Series, Santana again became a free agent. 

With last week's abrupt retirement by Alex Kirilloff due to a back injury, the Twins have an early-offseason hole at first base. Could that increase the likelihood of Santana returning to the Twins? Should it? We shall see. 

Join us in congratulation Carlos Santana on his well-deserved Gold Glove! 

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[thelanges5]

Santana takes it himself! Great $5mil pick up in 2024. 

[tony&rodney]

Congratulations to Carlos Santana, well deserved and achieved through persistent hard work.

[JD-TWINS]

SANTANA in 2024:

Struck out less than 20% of AB’s - lead Team in HR.

26 Doubles & 71 RBI.

Hit within 4 % points of his career Batting Average.

Gold Glove at 1B. (Award doesn’t tip scale)

Doesn’t shrink in big moments!

Works hard to stay in great shape & post in line-up as needed.

Seems Team could use him as RH bat at 1B v. LH pitching……PH v. LH pitching …….. depth at 1B if alternative goes down with injury. My assumption is Miranda will be the guy to hit (excels v. RH pitching/reverse splits) against RH pitching and will also play 1B. If Team pursues a better bat at 1B - then leave Santana alone. To me, he’s too high quality as depth piece to not at least offer him $5M.

I love the idea of trading some high value to Red Sox for 1B Casas. Santana could be a nice compliment to him as needed.

[Whitey333]

Congrats to Carlos Santana.  Well done!

[Rod Carews Birthday]

FANTASTIC!  This was a signing that was greeted with skepticism by many.  It turns out that Santana had a lot left in the tank.  Way to go!

I wonder what it would take to re-sign him?  I hate playing against Father Time, but it might be worth a shot.

[Gamblerssoftball]

If he would play at the same salary as last year, I'd resign him for sure. We have enough other holes to fill with young, relatively low experience players. It looks like there's some gas left in the tank

 

[RpR]

43 minutes ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

FANTASTIC!  This was a signing that was greeted with skepticism by many.  It turns out that Santana had a lot left in the tank.  Way to go!

I wonder what it would take to re-sign him?  I hate playing against Father Time, but it might be worth a shot.

I will take on dealing with Father Time over inexperience and ignorance of youth.

Twins infield fielding prospects are poor on their best day; Twin cannot afford, money wise, to put out a team fighting Chicago to not finish last in 2025l

[S Bart]

Congrats Carlitos! 

It is an award that you have deserved for many years!

 

[Parfigliano]

Well deserved.

[dxpavelka]

It is a great thing that the Gold Gloves are now handed out based on defensive abilities!   Would be even better if contracts were as well.

 

[stringer bell]

Congratulations to a real professional. 

[Blyleven2011]

Was a joy to watch his athletic abilities at first base  , he played the position like a youngster ...

His defense was amazing and saved many hits and doubles down the line and helped out our pitchers ...

We  were very fortunate to see a real professional  ...

Well deserved,  congratulations Carlos  ...

[jmlease1]

12 hours ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

FANTASTIC!  This was a signing that was greeted with skepticism by many.  It turns out that Santana had a lot left in the tank.  Way to go!

I wonder what it would take to re-sign him?  I hate playing against Father Time, but it might be worth a shot.

I was one of the skeptics. I thought they would overuse him and that he wouldn't hit enough to make him effective enough at 1B. They probably did expose him too much against RHP, but the defense made it worth doing, especially in the absence of a better option. He was more than worth the $5M and did a very nice job once he got out of that awful start. 

The defense really was excellent. A lot of times it can be hard to see how superior defense impacts at 1B, but you could really see it with Santana. I'd be interested in bringing him back again...but the exposure issue might be a bigger concern since Time is Undefeated, and the self-imposed payroll limits make even $5M tight.

But he had a great season defensively, and it was a pleasure to watch. He was so consistent that you were shocked if he didn't make a tough play. Definitely earned that GG. Congrats Carlos!

[bean5302]

I'm glad to see Santana win the award. I'm sure he takes a lot of pride in his defense, and he's played a long time in the league so this is something special he can hang his hat on. It wouldn't surprise me if this was a personal goal of his. He's probably kicking himself that it wasn't one of his escalators this year, but he did hit both $125k performance bonus goals, hah.

[Fire Dan Gladden]

Well I have to say I am extremely disappointed that Santana won the GG.  The $25k contract bonus he picked up effectively prices him out of any Twins future plans.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Instead of saying congrats, i'll just like everyone else's post who says congrats. Because i am so lazy.

 

Is that good enough?

[LambchoP]

Well deserved, he saved a lot of runs and extra base hits for our players. Twins need to get A-healthier and B-better at defense. Santana helps with both, if we can get him cheap I say go for another year. I'd rather they try to upgrade the lineup by signing a power hitting first baseman like Alonzo, Goldschmidt or Walker, but we know it's not happening. Santana may be the best we could hope for.

[Schmoeman5]

Watching Carlos play 1st was great this past year. I keep reading put Miranda at 1st put Julien at 1st put Lewis at 1st, give Wallner or Larnach a glove and work them at 1st. Carlos knows when to go for or not go for the tweeners. He scoops nearly every throw. And his ability to chase down foul pop-ups is 2nd to none even at 38. That ability takes a lot of work. The only problem with Carlos is that his ability to hit lh has diminished or I'd run it back all over again. Whomever takes over at 1st this year needs to rake because the defensive drop-off is going to be huge. Congrats to Mr. Santana

[RpR]

Unless they pick-up a vet. who hit much better than average, if Santana leaves there will be a drop-off offensively and defensively.

It would make more sense to sign Gallo for 1st base than put Julien there, ever.