Carlos Santana Fantasy News and Statistics

It was a bit of a curious choice by Carlos Santana to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies. But with $20 million per year on the table for three seasons, the veteran first baseman may have been wise to jump at the offer now that the market for fellow first baseman Eric Hosmer appears to be drying up. The former Indian has been a bit underrated in his career offensively. He belted 34 homers in 2016, but he otherwise hasn’t been a big power producer. He has been an excellent OBP guy with a career .365 OBP, though. He’s also cut down on strikeouts and has been a consistent 30 doubles bat over his career. Being a doubles and walks machine doesn’t make him the sexiest option at first, but he’s been dependable with the stick. He should be a predictable producer of Dober Fantasy Points in 2018.

2017: After a monster 2016 that saw Santana belt a career-high 34 home runs and produce an .865 OPS, he fell back to earth a bit in 2017. While his .259 average matched what he produced in 2016, his OBP dipped despite still being a strong .363. His slugging percentage is where the real decline happened, falling from .498 to .455. While the long balls decreased, Santana did have a career year in doubles with 37 and continued to be a dependable bat in Cleveland’s order. While he still ended up with an .818 OPS, his 112 OPS+ was the second-lowest of his career. In 2018, Santana will be asked to provide the same dependability for the Phillies in a lineup full of high-upside youngsters.