Modern Journalism Continues To Miss the Mark
April 12, 2010LeBron Rests His Body, While FanHouse Writer Rests His Mind
April 12, 2010What, me, worry? Every once in awhile my stalker camera pays dividends when I take it to sporting events. On Saturday night, I was able to catch this pic of Clippers catcher Carlos Santana stretching pre-game. The overall demeanor of this picture sums up my early impressions of watching him play: he never looks like he’s concerned, and he makes everything he does look easy.
You may recall Rock’s assertions on Friday that Santana is “a monster at the plate, an imposing figure with a perfectly balanced swing.” While his stature isn’t imposing (5’11”, 190#), his hitting certainly has been thus far. Santana has gotten off to a torrid start, earning him the International League Batter of the Week honors for the first (albeit short) week. In his first four games, the switch-hitting Santana seven hits in 16 ABs (.438) with two doubles, four homers and 21 total bases (1.313 slugging%), and eight RBI. He’s also drawn a pair of walks, so his OBP is an even .500.
Of course, the one game that Santana did not homer in was the only one I’ve been to (Saturday night), but the thing that got me was that even while having a bad night on Saturday—two weak grounders and a fly ball that should have been caught but was dropped—there he was leading off the 8th with the Clippers down one, and the pitcher threw four straight balls nowhere close to the plate. They wanted NOTHING to do with him, even if it meant walking the tying run to lead-off an inning.
Santana turned 24 on Opening Day last Thursday, and is in his fifth full season of professional baseball. He was named MVP of the Class-A California League in 2008, and last year he was MVP of the Double-A Eastern League. He seems to be off to a good start toward winning another MVP award, but if this kind of hitting continues it would be ludicrous to keep him in AAA for the full season. That’s right, Lou Marson, I’m pointing in your direction. Santana looks ready.
16 Comments
Bye bye, Lou.
Santana is older than Lou Marson… Mindblowing.
I’m gonna go all boogeyman on you and say the move to Santana would make too much sense, therefore it won’t happen.
Marson stunk out loud yesterday. Two balls past him through the five hole that didn’t hit the dirt first is UNACCEPTABLE at any level! If that’s the way its going to be defensively up here I’d rather get the benefit of some of Santana’s offense NOW!
Two words: service time. I have a sick feeling we won’t see him before June.
Don’t forget that the sooner Santana gets the call, the sooner they’ll have to pay him. One would speculate that in what has appeared to be a punting year for the Tribe they may wait just to be able to hold onto him for another year without having to pay him.
Or, what BDS said. 🙂
As soon as he becomes quality MLB starter or possibly an all star he’ll be traded for an icemaker by the end of 2011.
Marson’s a legit MLB catcher. He’ll catch on somewhere if he doesn’t stay in the Indian’s system. He was slated to be the Phils’ starter this year before the trade and projects as a .270 hitter in the majors.
Please keep Lou Marson. If we can’t pay for a contending team, I at least want good baseball names. Lou Marson, Choo, LaPorta, Sizemore- all excellent. Unfortunately, really only room for one guy named Carlos. “Santana” is fabulous but the alliteration of Carrasco completely acceptable, and our pitching names are very weak. Really nothing decent since CC left.
Wonder if Jake Locker can pitch.
@ Mack – I’d be impressed if he managed to stop 27% of the pitches thrown his way.
It makes no logical sense for Santana not to be playing every day in Cleveland. Mr. Marson has a grand total of 28 career home runs. Bring the kid up and give him ABs.
@#12: it makes logical sense if you’re Chris Antonetti and you know this team isn’t winning this year. Why burn one of his pre-arbitration/pre-FA years for nothing when it might keep your window open one year longer if you can afford to keep him that extra year?
Look on the bright side, those of us in Columbus get to see Santana up close all summer. He is a joy to watch and the ballpark is amazing. I could seriously go to every game
The fact that Santana is already 24 might help his chances of being called up though. Even if he was called up tomorrow, we would still have control of his services through his 29 yr old year, which should almost definately include his best years.
Does anyone know if Marson still has options left? With Redmond’s newfound chemistry with Fausto and his overall experience helping the young staff, it seems like he is entrenched in our backup role, regardless of his offense of lack there of. So if Santana is given the job, I would think Marson would have to be sent back to Columbus.
And what is it that makes you say Marson is a legit MLB catcher? He has a good arm but that seems to be about it. I might be able to overlook passed balls at the beginning of the season if he hasn’t worked with the staff much, especially westbrook… but this guy is supposed to be a defensive specialist. A .270 average doesn’t mean much when its all singles. It seems to me like this guy has a ceiling as a Major league backup.
The success of the Cliff Lee trade rests on Carrasco and Knapp’s development.
[…] of a rough start by Hector Rondon), but the offense has been a pleasant surprise thus far, led by IL Batter of the Week Carlos Santana and scoring a whopping 46 runs in their first five games (9.2 […]