Ahhh, brings back memories, as this song hit right in my prime. Yes, I’m an old f’er, which segues perfectly…not Son Segwaying over to Grey’s neck of the woods in Los Angeles….Although, that would be fun, but the over/under on me getting splattered all over the concrete is 1 mile. Anyways, before I begin this piece, I must apologize because it’s going to smell of Salonpas and nonenal up in here. If you are here for sexy, don’t press the back button; just x out the browser completely.
Before I dive into Rudy’s War Room, I always go through the player pool and map out each position. My initial foray into that endeavor had me stopping at Tyler Soderstrom for first base. After drafting, the position goes, as Grand Verbalizer sang in What Time Is It, “Deeper than Atlantis.”
Granted, there will be no treasures or sites that pop eyeballs out of sockets, but there are some useful options. The two that stood out to me were Josh Bell and Carlos Santana.
Since I began the piece with another Carlos Santana, it’s only proper that the baseball Santana gets the written treatment first.
Santana is 38 years old, 5-foot-11, 210 pounds and is a switch hitter. He began his MLB career way back in 2010, then spent the next 10 of 11 seasons with the then Cleveland Indians. Then the fight against Father Time began at age 34. Santana played for the Kansas City Royals, Seattle Mariners, Milwaukee Brewers, and Minnesota Twins. He’s now back with the now Cleveland Guardians on a one-year, $12 million contract at age 39.
Over the last two seasons, Santana played 146 and 150 games, racking up 619 and 594 plate appearances. He hit 23 home runs in each season while scoring around 70 runs and driving in around 70. The walk rate remained high, and Santana has never had a walk rate below 10% in his career. The strikeout rate was in the 16.7% range while the ISO was over .180. The batting average was in the .240 range.
Santana is slated to be full-time player at either first base or designated hitter and bat fourth in a Guardians lineup that has Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez up top, Kyle Manzardo batting third and Lane Thomas in fifth.
Bell is 32 years old, 6-foot-4, 261 pounds and also is a switch hitter. He began his MLB career in 2016 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. After five seasons, Journey started blasting, “Don’t stop, believing” as he went from Washington to San Diego to Cleveland to Miami to Arizona, finally ending up back in Washington. I have flashbacks of driving around LAX after the person I’m picking up told me they were ready, but in fact were still waiting for their bags. There’s a special place in hell for those people.
Anyways, Over the last three seasons, Bell has racked up over 600 plate appearances and driven in over 70 runs in each. Bell has had a double-digit walk rate in all but two seasons while the strikeout rate has been over 20% just twice. The batting average is a little better than Santana’s – .250 vs. 240 – but Santana has a smidge more power.
I know, I know. These players are boring and their statcast pages don’t make your eyes bleed, but let’s compare their projections to Soderstrom, per Steamer:
Soderstrom – .233/.296/.437, 506 PA, 24 HR, 60 R, 69 RBI, 7.5% BB%, 25.7% K% and .204 ISO
Santana – .236/.321/.406, 580 PA, 21 HR, 66 R, 72 RBI, 10.7% BB%, 18.2% K% and .170 ISO
Bell – .250/.328/.418, 574 PA, 20 HR, 66 R, 70 RBI, 9.9% BB%, 19.7% K% and .169 ISO
Soderstrom is only 23 years old, so there’s more upside for sure. His ADP is 272, while Santana and Bell are 477 and 496 respectively. Nathaniel Lowe is being selected with the 267th overall pick, yet he’s projected for 18 HR, 71R and 73 RBI with a .153 ISO.
I guess the point of this article is to show that, if you miss out on the top power bats at first base, there are punt options for very cheap, that could match the production of their higher-priced brethren.
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