Twins first baseman Carlos Santana headed toward his goal of winning a Gold Glove

Carlos Santana has accomplished a lot over his 15-year career. He’s hit more than 300 homers, driven in more than 1,000 runs, earned more than $100 million. He’s won a Silver Slugger award, been an All-Star and competed in the Home Run Derby in his home ballpark.

But even at 38, the Twins first baseman still has lofty goals he’s working toward.

“I want to win a championship,” he said last week, after acknowledging a painful Game 7 loss by Cleveland to the Cubs in the 2016 World Series. “And I want to win a Gold Glove.”

He’s hardly the classic image of a first baseman, physically. A former catcher with a catcher’s stocky body, not even 6 feet tall.

And yet.

“He’s much more athletic than probably anyone would want to give him credit for. Well, I’m going to give him credit for it now,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He’s a good athlete. He’s excellent on his feet. And he is nimble.”

He’s also one of the best first basemen in the American League. According to analytics website FanGraphs, Santana has the highest defensive scores in the league, having recorded 11 more outs than the average first baseman.

After being named a National League Gold Glove finalist last season while with Milwaukee — he lost to the Diamondbacks’ Christian Walker — Santana stands a decent chance of accomplishing at least one of his goals this year. Especially if he continues the run of attention-getting plays he has made since the All-Star break.

He made a diving stop of a Wenceel Pérez smash in Detroit, turned an unassisted double play and threw a runner out at the plate, all in one series.

“They should make a video about what he did at first base. You could tell a whole 30-minute-to-an-hour-long story about those plays,” Baldelli said. “You’ve got to be kind of spry, you’ve got to be able to move, you’ve got to think ahead and know exactly what to do with the baseball. It was beautiful to watch him play first base. You rarely say stuff like that about your first baseman, but he changed the game, the way he played defense.”

It’s reminiscent, Baldelli said, of his first season managing the Twins, when C.J. Cron made several brilliant plays at first base. And the amazing part, Baldelli said, is he had no idea Santana was such a sure-handed defender when the Twins signed him to a one-year, $5.25 million contract in February.

“I had to look into him, really. I was familiar with him as a player, but like four years ago, not recently at all,” Baldelli said. “I’ve been impressed.”

Santana is hitting .247 with 14 home runs and 48 RBI with a slugging percentage of .428, slightly off his career mark of .431.

Baldelli expected a once-formidable power hitter on the downside of his career, but not necessarily someone who would rank second on the team in home runs, as he does. The manager figured he might be a good pinch-hit candidate, especially since he’s a switch hitter, not a guy who would rank second on the team in games started.

And as a defender?

“I can’t say I expected that, but I can’t say I’m shocked, either,” Baldelli said. “He doesn’t have that track record because of luck. The guy is extremely durable and can do things that other players cannot do.”

Here’s a rather shocking example: Santana hasn’t been thrown out trying to steal a base in more than six years, having stolen 16 in a row without being caught.

“I run much better now than three years ago. I feel better, so I can get around the bases,” Santana said. “A lot of players ask [about his streak]. They don’t believe I can run.”

Santana, though, points out that he was originally signed as a third baseman by the Dodgers back in 2004. “I ran pretty good,” he said. “That was my natural position.”

Baldelli sees something more than speed or luck, though.

“He’s got good instincts for the game, great awareness and instincts,” the manager said. “Stealing bases is as much about your feel for the game and anticipation as it is who can run and who can’t run. Carlos is sharp and bright and knows when to go and pays attention to the game and does those things well, it’s not that hard. And guys that don’t have that kind of feel for the game, it’s very hard.”