Carlos Santana and the new leadoff prototype at the Corner of Carnegie and Ontario

There’s Carlos Santana frustration brewing at the Corner of Carnegie and Ontario, and it’s really starting to get old. This isn’t anything new, as Santana has been the most misunderstood baseball player on the North Coast since the day he was called up to Progressive Field in 2010. This goes far beyond the fact that he’s always the second “Carlos Santana” that shows up on any internet search. Santana isn’t your traditional “power hitter,” as many labeled him immediately after the 2008 trade that brought him to Cleveland. He isn’t your traditional .300 hitter, even though the minor league version of Santana hit .290. It just goes to show you that perception is often the rule, even if it isn’t true.

Instead, Santana has masked his offensive brilliance in a package that makes him hard to define past this: he’s one of the Top 30 hitters in all of baseball. Even Indians’ manager Terry Francona has sometimes struggled with finding a place in the line-up for Carlos. Consider this: while his predominant spot in the line-up has been as the clean-up hitter, he only had 38 PAs there since the start of 2016. Overall, since Francona joined the club as manager prior to the 2013 season, Santana has, dependent on year, spent the majority of time hitting fourth and fifth, with a dalliance at the six-spot… until last year. That’s when Francona, almost begrudgingly, allowed Santana to hit first, but only against righties.

Santana responded with an elite 17% walk rate, a .385 OBP, a .381 wOBA and a 140 wRC+. While some may think this overvalues the walk, remember, the No. 1 priority for the leadoff hitter is to get on base and score runs. Santana scored 57 runs batting first in only 86 games. So check and check.

While Santana split time with Rajai Davis as the lead-off hitter in 2016, many in statistical circles were wondering why Santana didn’t get full-time at bats there. Davis, he of World Series home run heroics, wasn’t a great lead-off hitter, minus his plus speed. While Santana’s power dips from the right side of the plate, he’s still elite in every other category that’s important to a leadoff hitter. His career walk rate is slightly worse as a right-handed hitter (14.6% L versus 15.9% R), but almost all the other important intangibles as a lead-off hitter improve. His career OBP as a right-handed hitter is .383, versus .356 as a lefty. His slugging is nearly identical (.441 as a righty, versus .446 as a lefty). His career wOBA is (.361 as a righty, versus .350 as a lefty), and his career wRC+ is (130 as a righty, versus 122 as a lefty). Minus the home run power, Santana’s numbers as a right-handed hitter better suit leading off.

What’s most impressive about Santana is how he altered his approach hitting from the left side to better suit leading off. All of his numbers improved in the important lead-off categories, as opposed to his career numbers. And to the traditionalists out there, Santana belted 34 total homers, satisfying that mystical shelf that so many “old-school statisticians” have been craving. While Santana’s overall walk rate dropped to a career low of 14.4% (still pretty damn good), his strikeout rate also dropped to a career low 14.4%. Like many Indians in the line-up, his offensive IQ is outstanding. Santana finds a way to mold into every opportunity placed in front of him, regardless of comfort level.

But even with the loss of Rajai Davis, and with the wildly successful 2016 for Santana as the unconventional lead-off hitter, that national media has taken an interesting approach to the 2017 versions of the unconventional lead-off hitters.

Big surprise, right?

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I suppose we have to take a look at the conventional lead-off hitter, before we get to Carlos Santana in 2017. In Cleveland, the prototypical lead-off hitter roamed centerfield for the Indians throughout much of the 1990’s with the speed and grace of a player that was built to be there. Kenny Lofton was exactly what the doctor prescribed, and what every baseball bible predicated.

Lofton was fast, and in the era prior to, well, today, that’s really all you needed. Hell, that’s why Rajai Davis was leading off so much in 2016. But Lofton was more than fast. His career OBP was .372, and in his prime with the Indians, he had three seasons in which it was over .400.1 He hit for average2, and scored a ton of runs. The fact that he played center and was fantastic defensively only helped finish off the stereotypical picture.

Lofton was the dream, and while the Hall of Fame-voting-idiots bounced him out of the voting after one year, you could legitimately make a case that Lofton was a Top 5 lead-off hitter of all time.

But players like Lofton are unicorns. Too often, while speed is enticing, it doesn’t often get to first base to allow it to be effective. When you combine that with metrics, there are other, interesting avenues to consider when pondering hitting first.

You also have to understand that hitting leadoff isn’t always about hitting leadoff. Percentages increase throughout a season regarding how many times in an inning that you hit first. Consider this: of Santana’s 688 plate appearances in 2017, only 228 led off an inning, and 85 of those were the first inning. Francisco Lindor had 106 leadoff innings, Jason Kipnis had 118, and Jose Ramirez had 143. Sure, Santana was afforded more opportunity, but there are other things to consider.

Santana would get more first inning opportunities with the full-time leadoff gig, but what’s especially interesting is how often he’ll actually be able to drive runners in from the bottom of the order. With one of the deepest lineups in baseball, Santana reverts back to his “clean-up” self after that first at-bat.

You see, it’s that out of the box thinking that can alter the Indians’ 2017 fortunes, but could even change the landscape of baseball. So, Santana provided this shift in thinking, right?

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In case you haven’t heard, Kyle Schwarber is Major League Baseball’s new prototype for a leadoff hitter. The World Series media darling, and Joe Buck’s man-crush, has gotten the nod in Chicago at the top of the order. Since then, every quirky outlet, from Ringer, to ESPN, to CBS Sports have jumped on the “Joe Maddon-is-brilliant” bandwagon, for thinking so outside the box.3

This experiment has been tried a variety of times over the years, but Maddon is given credit for creating the 2017 leadoff model.

Except he didn’t create it. He watched it.

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Santana wasn’t a major factor as a lead-off hitter in the World Series, but his overall .380 OBP, and Maddon’s Santana fascination likely was a motivator for the Schwarber move this year. The Cubs roster is loaded, and while a guy like Ben Zobrist might be a good fit there (Maddon has used him in the lead-off role in previous seasons with the Rays, and the Cubs) as well, Schwarber does get on base a lot.

But he’s no Santana.

Santana’s walk rate has historically been 15% or better, and while he does strike out, it’s not at Schwarber’s near 30% in his rookie season.4 Sure, Schwarber possesses perhaps more home run power, but Santana is just a smarter hitter. As I mentioned already, his offensive IQ is substantial, and his extra base power is unquestioned. When you combine it with a career .365 OBP, you have something pretty special.

In Cleveland, Terry Francona was ahead of the curve, whether he wanted to be or not.

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Carlos Santana can’t buy a break. In Cleveland, he’s been somewhat of a media-pariah throughout the duration of his career. The Indians stole him in a trade for Casey Blake in 2009, which was a heralded move at the time, but since then, he’s had to overcome some odd stereotypes at every step of the way.

1. He wasn’t Victor Martinez behind the plate, even though his offensive numbers were every bit as good.
2. Yan Gomes supplanted him at catcher, so Santana volunteered to try playing third base, because he wanted to play in the field badly. Instead of being heralded as a team player, he was criticized for “having to play at a primary position.”
3. He’s played hurt, because he figured playing was more beneficial to the team, rather than sitting. He was then somewhat chastised by manager Terry Francona, who said, “I don’t quite know how to respond to that (Santana playing hurt). I think he’s had some back tightness for sure. He just didn’t want me to tell anybody. I guess he took care of that.”
4. There have been rumblings that Santana doesn’t want to DH, that he’d rather play in the field. This stems a bit from his run at third base, but also coexists with his desire to play first base. While other players are heralded as gamers, it’s been insinuated by various sources that he can be a malcontent. This has also tied together with his leading off. While some comments have come from Santana about “having to learn how to hit first,” much of it is simply an ‘I’ll do whatever it takes’ mentality.

But enter Santana in 2017. Joining the Indians’ line-up is good friend Edwin Encarnacion, who will lock up the clean-up spot for the duration of the year. Re-joining the line-up is arguably the Indians best overall hitter in Michael Brantley, who missed the entire 2016 season.

With Rajai Davis gone, the line-up depth locked Santana in as the full-time, 2017 leadoff hitter. Santana currently leads the league with three doubles, and also has a home run. He’s scored five runs in six games, and hasn’t yet kicked into full gear regarding walks (super-small sample size alert… 10.3% BB rate). But still, Santana feels like a game-changer at the position, even if the rest of the mainstream media is focusing on the darling Chicago Cubs, and Kyle Schwarber.

How many games will the Indians start off with the lead, if Santana hits 30-plus homers?5 How many games will a runner start off in scoring position, without Santana having to steal a base?6 And what if he does pick up his stolen base game?7

With Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Michael Brantley, Edwin Encarnacion and Jason Kipnis having chances to drive him home, it could revolutionize the game. Yet hitters like Santana are every bit as unicorn as the Kenny Loftons of this world, so perhaps Santana is less a prototype, and more a singular force of nature. And with Jason Kipnis returning soon from rehab, and with Austin Jackson playing solid early on, Francona could begin to get itchy to go traditional again.

Kipnis has hit lead-off before, and so has Brantley. JRam’s OBP was up as well, and Lindor may be the future lead-off hitter, since he has more of those “traditional” skills that people love so much.

But Santana’s career has been a study in perseverance, and breaking traditional stereotypes is something that he’s become accustomed to, even if Kyle Schwarber gets all the credit.

1. Four times, if you include his lost season with the Atlanta Braves [↩]
2. over .300 during five of his Indians’ seasons, and .300 for his career with the Indians [↩]
3. Joe Maddon is brilliant in many ways, and he did try John Jaso there a few years back, followed by Matt Joyce. But in the end, he continued to utilize speed guys, such as Demond Jennings and B.J. Upton. [↩]
4. It’s 40% this year, in a super small sample size [↩]
5. Well, somewhere in the realm of 30, duh [↩]
6. Santana had 68 extra base hits, for what it’s worth [↩]
7. While not speedy, Santana is one of the smartest baserunners in the game. [↩]

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Carlos Santana; All Around The Diamond

It is no secret the Cleveland Indians’ manager Terry Francona loves versatility on his team. Tito prefers players like Mike Aviles and Jose Ramirez that can play multiple positions without skipping a beat. Over the past three seasons this has been tried with Tribe first baseman Carlos Santana.
Although Santana has seemed to have found a home at first base, this year marked the third different opening day position in the past three seasons for the Tribe clean-up hitter. His time spent at each position has brought varied levels of success, not only defensively, but offensively as well.

Behind The Dish

Santana spent his first three seasons in an Indians uniform as the primary catcher. While Santana was never the best catcher on the defensive end, he was a very good hitting catcher. In his four seasons spending time behind the plate Santana caught 325 games and stepped to the plate a total of 1,341 times. Santana has kept an average of .241 with 43 home runs and 156 runs batted in. The other number worth noting for him would be his on-base percentage of .364. No matter where he has played, Santana has always done a great job taking pitches. While his offensive numbers are good for a catcher, it seems as if his catching days are over, at least unless there is an emergency.

The Hot Corner

The emergence of Yan Gomes forced Carlos Santana out of the primary catching role in the Spring of 2013. Inconsistent play at third base led to a transition to the hot corner for the former back stop. Santana beat out Lonnie Chisenhall for the Opening Day start at third base. Looking back on the start of the 2014 season, it is safe to say that the Carlos Santana experiment at the hot corner was a failure. Not only was the defense played by Santana atrocious, but his hitting was less than stellar as well. The experiment lasted a total of 113 plate appearances. Even though the sample size was small, the numbers that Santana posted were some of the worst of his career. Santana hit an abysmal .129 with only two home runs and seven runs batted in. The lone bright spot of Santana’s time while playing third base was that his on-base percentage still was near the .300 mark, so even with the terrible batting average, he still found a way to get on base and see pitches.

Santana’s On First

Carlos has always spent sometime at first base, but it wasn’t until the second half of the 2014 season where he was anointed as the team’s full-time first baseman. The move was made partly because Santana had become a better defensive player at the position than Nick Swisher, although Swisher’s injured knees needing surgery also helped make Santana the everyday starter. Of the positions played, Santana has posted his best offensive numbers while playing first base. In Santana’s 961 plate appearances, he has hit .267 with 42 home runs and 133 runs batted in. His power numbers are very similar to his numbers while catching, however he has played almost 100 less games at first base than he has caught. The one trend that has kept no matter where he has played is his OBP. First base is no different to this trend as Santana has an on-base percentage of .389

There may be a number of different reasons that can attribute to the differences in how well Santana has hit in his different positions. My opinion is that the less thinking he has to do in the field, the better he hits at the plate. People tend to underestimate the mental ability that it takes for a catcher to handle a pitching staff, as well as be successful as a hitter. The move to third base forced Santana to focus on his defensive abilities on a daily basis, which definitely took a toll on his hitting ability as well. First base is by far the easiest position of the three mentally, and that has shown in his numbers. The best case scenario for the team, and Santana, would be to keep him posted at first base.

On the Indians, Tito values versatility. While Carlos Santana has shown the willingness to be versatile, it is in the best interest of the team, and the player, to keep him as the everyday first baseman.

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Carlos Santana, Pitbull in pro-immigrant song

Pitbull (L) and Carlos Santana, pictured performing on November 20, 2014, launched a music video in celebration of immigrants (AFP Photo/Mark Ralston)

Miami (AFP) - Latin music stars including Carlos Santana and Pitbull on Monday launched a music video in celebration of immigrants, voicing alarm at the harsh turn of US political discourse.

"We're All Mexican," in English and Spanish with a Latin beat and mariachi brass, features images of famous Mexicans such as painter Frida Kahlo as stars say the song's title.

With US and Mexican flags waving, the video also shows images of immigrants' contributions to US society ranging from farm labor to Mexican cuisine.

Cuban-American producer Emilio Estefan led the initiative given the popularity in the Republican presidential nomination contest of tycoon Donald Trump, who denounced undocumented Mexicans as rapists and drug dealers.

"'We're all Mexican' is a metaphor symbolizing that we can all become the victims of racism and bigotry at any moment," said a statement accompanying the video.

Without referring directly to Trump, the statement denounced the vilification of Mexicans but said their situation was not unique.

"Around the world, different immigrant groups are harassed and made to be scapegoats for the ills of their respective countries of residence," it said.

"The song celebrates the positive contributions of immigrants in the United States as a balance to the negativity being expressed publicly," it said.

Stars involved in the song include the Cuban-American rapper Pitbull, Chicano rock legend Carlos Santana and Mexican American actress Eva Longoria.

Other stars in the project include Haitian-born rapper Wyclef Jean of Fugees fame and Oscar-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg.

Trump, the property mogul and television star who has defied all political odds to lead the Republican race ahead of the November 2016 election, stunned many across the United States when he described Mexican immigrants as rapists.

Hispanic-Americans are the largest and fastest growing US minority; most Latinos are of Mexican descent or origin.

And Republicans need to court Hispanics' votes to win the White House.

Trump, 69, also wants to build a wall along the US-Mexican border.

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Carlos Santana and Sri Chinmoy

"This shit is not for me--I don't care how enlightening it is."

Renowned musician and multi-Grammy winner Carlos Santana was a follower of Guru Sri Chinmoy for nine years (1972-1981). In a recent interview (Rolling Stone March 16, 2000) he discussed his time as a devotee within the group. His name while a member was "Devadip" ("the eye, the light of the lamp of God"). That name, given to him by Chinmoy--is inscribed on a guitar strap he still keeps at his home displayed as an apparent memento.

His wife of many years Deborah also joined the group and was then named "Urmila."

Carlos Santana was first introduced to Sri Chinmoy by guitarist John McLaughlin, but soon his experience in the group became a regimented "West Point approach to spirituality." That regimen included daily meditation at 5:00 AM (Chinmoy's followers meditate on his picture). Because Chinmoy liked running Deborah Santana ran marathons. Though she once ran a "devotional vegetarian restaurant" for the group in San Francisco Deborah says now they did "ridiculous things" to "prove [their] devotion" (e.g. "who could sleep the least and still function"). She adds, "I once ran a forty-seven-mile race. It wasn't enough just to run a marathon."

Carlos Santana didn't run claiming, "This shit is not for me--I don't care how enlightening it is." He offered his help through music--often playing Chinmoy's songs at meditation. But he was somewhat annoyed by group announcements that these were "Santana performances."

Santana used to describe his guru as a graduate of "many Harvards of consciousness" who sat "at the seat of God." He once said, "I'm still in [spiritual] kindergarten [and] without a guru I serve only my own vanity…I am the strings, but [Chinmoy] is the musician." However, now the accomplished musician explains "everything about [Chinmoy] turned to vinegar."

The guru apparently once preached sternly against champion tennis player Billie Jean King's homosexuality and Santana didn't like it. Something seemed to snap and he thought, "What the fuck is all this--this guy's supposed to be spiritual…mind your own spiritual business and leave her alone," he remembers thinking.

After leaving the group it seems Sri Chinmoy "was pretty vindictive," recalls Santana. "He told all my friends not to call me ever again, because I was to drown in the dark sea of ignorance for leaving him." Despite all this Santana still claims, "It was a good learning experience."


Note: Originally published in the March 16, 2000 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine, "The Epic Life of Carlos Santana,&quot By Chris Heath

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