Carlos Santana returns to Cleveland today for the third time since leaving the city where he played all but one of his 12 big league seasons and established reputations for power and getting on base. But Santana, now the KC Royals’ first baseman, returns not with the kind of game he gave the Indians for 11 years, but instead plagued by a bat in significant disrepair.
His .216/.322/.354 line in 145 games this season pales in comparison to the .251/.368/.450 he put up as an Indian, and his 19 home runs are, excluding last year’s pandemic-shortened season, the fewest he’s hit since clubbing the same number in 2015.