{"id":288151,"date":"2024-11-04T09:11:44","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T15:11:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=288151"},"modified":"2024-11-04T09:11:44","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T15:11:44","slug":"santana-wins-longtime-goal-with-gold-glove-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=288151","title":{"rendered":"Santana wins longtime goal with Gold Glove Award"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Twins – There isn\u2019t always anything flashy about being a good, reliable first baseman. It\u2019s the least glamorous defensive position on the diamond, the place where, traditionally, a good hitter with nowhere else to go often ends up, simply because he has to stand\u00a0somewhere<\/em>. At its best, a well-played first base isn\u2019t necessarily a highlight-reel spot; the vast majority of the job description simply revolves around making your teammates better (or not making them worse).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carlos Santana<\/a>\u00a0certainly checked that box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s making everybody on our infield better every single day, with the way he picks every single throw that we throw in the dirt,\u201d shortstop Carlos Correa said during the season. \u201cI think when you seriously consider his numbers, there\u2019s nobody better in the American League, numbers-wise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Santana\u2019s season at first base went far beyond that — and in doing so, he truly accomplished the rarity of turning his position into a source of sparkling plays alongside his relentless consistency on the routine ones, establishing the rare first-base r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and highlight reel that made his teammates and coaches murmur and marvel, day after day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both by the numbers and by the eye test, Santana\u2019s 2024 season clearly looked to be a\u00a0Gold Glove effort<\/a>\u00a0as it unfolded — and that indeed came to fruition on Sunday, when the 38-year-old finally accomplished his longtime goal of earning that first Rawlings\u00a0Gold Glove Award<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere’s a couple of team priorities,\u201d Santana said during the season. \u201cBut this is one where I want that this year. That’s why — you know, I try to push every day, work hard every day, and see what’s going on. I try to do what’s best for me, but if not, I’m happy for that and say thanks to God for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Santana became a free agent following the conclusion of the World Series, he accomplished far more than the Twins could have imagined on a one-year deal to stabilize first base, not only leading the team in homers but also bringing Minnesota its first Gold Glove Award since 2017, when both Byron Buxton (center field) and Brian Dozier (second base) won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santana joins Doug Mientkiewicz (2001) and Vic Power (1962, \u201863) as the only Twins first basemen to win a Gold Glove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willi Castro was also a Gold Glove finalist at the relatively new utility position designation, but he fell short in his bid for the first career distinction of his own, with Dylan Moore of the Mariners taking home the honors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aged 38 years and 174 days on the final day of the regular season, Santana became the oldest position player to win a first career Gold Glove Award and the third-oldest player overall to do so, behind a pair of pitchers: Phil Niekro in 1978 and R.A. Dickey in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a guy who I\u2019ve known since he was about 21 or 22 years old,\u201d Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said during the season. \u201cIf you would have told me back then he\u2019s playing at 38, 39, closing in at 40, that would have been surprising to me. I would have underestimated that. He\u2019s been fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Edouard Julien continued his growing pains as a second baseman and Royce Lewis had a rocky season at third base, Santana was the stabilizing constant at first with his scooping ability. He essentially never made a bad decision, using his instincts honed from a decade at the position, and his flips to moving pitchers covering first base were perfect, time after time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santana\u2019s four errors were the second fewest among qualified AL first basemen, behind only the three from Baltimore\u2019s Ryan Mountcastle, who played nearly 300 fewer innings at the position. Under the hood, Santana led his position with 14 outs above average<\/a> and tied Mountcastle for the lead with eight defensive runs saved<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Santana\u2019s outs above average total was tied for\u00a013th among qualified MLB defenders<\/a>, highest among any player who wasn\u2019t a middle infielder or a center fielder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of that can be attributed to the exemplary physical condition in which Santana keeps his body, due to which he has emerged as one of the game\u2019s bastions of consistency and availability throughout his 15-season MLB career, often remarking that he still feels much younger than his age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, that shows in his defensive game — and he finally got his reward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twins – There isn\u2019t always anything flashy about being a good, reliable first baseman. It\u2019s the least glamorous defensive position on the diamond, the place where, traditionally, a good hitter with nowhere else to go often ends up, simply because he has to stand\u00a0somewhere. At its best, a well-played first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":283644,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-288151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=288151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":288152,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288151\/revisions\/288152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/283644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=288151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=288151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=288151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}