Rocco Baldelli, standing behind his desk before Tuesday’s game against Atlanta, spread out his arms and spouted praise with the gusto of P.T. Barnum or Michael Buffer.
Neal: Here’s hoping MLB voters get it right when it comes to Carlos Santana and the Gold Glove
Twenty five years after Twins first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz was robbed of the Gold Glove award — losing to an undeserving Rafael Palmeiro — Minnesota is hoping Carlos Santana brings it home.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
August 28, 2024 at 1:59AM
“Prepared to be amazed when you come to the ballpark,” the Twins manager said. “That’s what Carlos Santana does at first base.”
Santana has won a Silver Slugger award, but has never landed a Gold Glove. His time should be coming. He was second in voting to Arizona’s Christian Walker last season when he played with the Brewers. His defensive metrics boast his effectiveness, including Statcast’s Outs Above Average, where his rating of 13 leads all major league first baseman. He was tied for 10th the year before and tied for fifth the year before that, so this isn’t an outlier. Santana has toiled at his craft for years and should be recognized.
“There is no better defensive first baseman in the American League than Carlos Santana,” Baldelli said. “I’ll stand on my table and say that.”
Verbally, he did.
“There are some very good defenders,” Baldelli continued. “But this guy is a maniac at first base who does nothing but make plays that almost nobody else is gonna make.”
Honestly, Rocco, you shouldn’t be touting Santana so vigorously to this mild-mannered sportswriter. You need to convince your peeps.
Major league managers and up to six coaches per staff vote on the Gold Glove awards. For the most part, they get it right. With any vote, the results will strike a nerve with some followers. But many involved with the game still haven’t forgotten the 1999 AL Gold Glove vote.
Rafael Palmeiro, in his first season with the Rangers, landed the AL Gold Glove in 1999. He played all of 28 games at first base that season, 128 as the designated hitter. But he had a career year at the plate, batting .324 with 47 home runs and 148 RBI and setting career highs. He played 159 games at first the previous season, winning his second Gold Glove. Voters obviously looked at the ‘99 ballot, asked themselves, “who is a good first baseman?” remembered Palmeiro and checked the box next to his name.
Palmeiro reportedly received a $50,000 bonus for winning an award he didn’t deserve.
The Twins first baseman at the time was the slick fielding rookie Doug Mientkiewicz, who batted .229 over 118 games that season. He was fabulous at first from the moment he reached the majors and articulated the game better than 10-year veterans.
“[Palmeiro] won a Gold Glove at first and a Silver Slugger at DH, all in the same year,” Mientkiewicz said by phone on Tuesday. “You can tell I’ve let it go, can’t ya?”
Back then, Mientkiewicz felt offense factored in the voting at times. He believes managers and coaches have been more thoughtful while filling out their ballots in recent years. He hopes that offense doesn’t become a tiebreaker if two players are evenly matched, using games played instead.
Mientkiewicz did win the elusive Gold Glove in 2001 with the Twins — a year during which he established career highs in batting average, home runs and RBI. He spent seven of his 12 seasons with the Twins and won a World Series in 2004 with the Red Sox following a deadline day trade with Boston in town for a four-game series.
After the end of his playing days, Mientkiewicz coached and managed in the minors with the Dodgers, Tigers and two stints with the Twins. He’s currently in the Florida Keys, taking classes at an area college to obtain a degree so he can coach in college. He has followed Santana’s career and hopes he wins the award. He’s impressed the Twins and Baldelli and speaking up for him.
“You can stand at first base and not make an error all year,” Mientkiewicz said. “There’s guys who play first base and there’s guys who defend first base.”
Santana is a defender. He proved that in the fourth inning Tuesday when he hurried over and bumped into the railing in front of the Twins dugout to make a crowd-pleasing grab of Matt Olson’s pop-up foul. He ended the inning by stopping a grounder by Michael Harris II then stepping on the base. And he got the crowd off its feet and had reliever Griffin Jax howling in the ninth when he scrambled back and to his right to make a lunging, tumbling grab of Whit Merrifield’s soft liner.
His footwork and positioning are elite. His instincts are sharp. He doesn’t look 38 years old when he’s in the field.
And he’s deserving of the award.
Twins shortstop Carlos Correa is arguably their best player and easily their most expensive one. He’s frequently injured and a payroll-strapped team is up for sale. It feels like the Twins can’t afford to keep Correa, but the same is true of losing him.
