Player #1: Red Sox INF/OF Danny Santana
Danny Santana has been with the Red Sox for only a week now and he’s already becoming one of my favorite players to watch on this team. Whether he’s in the field or in the batter’s box my eyes are glued to the screen. Since overcoming a nasty foot infection he has proven to already be a solid signing for Chaim Bloom. A quick stint in the minors saw him absolutely dominate and he’s since carried that over to MLB.
In 5 games with the Red Sox Santana has had 17 plate appearances and is hitting .214/.353/.786/1.139 with two homers and two RBI. The first part of that stat line may not be eye-opening but the SLG and OPS are off the damn charts and those are the numbers that have my attention. While his three hits this year have all been for extra bases he does have seven strikeouts to just two walks which isn’t a ratio I’m looking for.
Still one of those walks came in the rally against the Braves the other night that delivered another win for Boston. If he can get a little more patient at the plate as he was during his rehab stint where he had seven whiffs in 35 plate appearances. That’s more of what I’m looking for from the versatile player this weekend.
Tonight he’ll be playing first base instead of Bobby Dalbec but as we’ve so far during his short tenure he’ll likely be moved around the diamond this weekend. Santana has crazy power and some good speed on the bases as he showed back in 2019 during his best career year. I have a good feeling that Danny Bombtana (nickname courtesy of Girl at the Game founder Gabrielle) will be making some noise at Fenway Park this weekend.