Orioles face difficult decision on Santander

Anthony Santander hit 44 home runs this season, more than any player other than Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani.

Santander’s 44 home runs were the seventh most in franchise history, and if he leaves the Orioles as a free agent, he’ll be remembered as the team’s top Rule 5 pick in its history.

Before the Orioles drafted him in 2016, Santander hadn’t played above High-A in Cleveland’s organization, and he missed most of the 2017 season with a strained right forearm.

Because of the injury, it took until May 2018 for Santander to fulfill his Rule 5 requirements, and once he reached 90 days on the active roster, the Orioles were able to option him to Double-A Bowie.

Santander spent the rest of 2018 with Bowie, Triple-A Norfolk and Aberdeen on a rehab assignment. It wasn’t until June 2019 that he was back with the Orioles.

In 2019, Santander hit .261 with 20 home runs and 59 RBIs, and he played 37 games in the Covid-shortened 2020 season. Santander, who suffered a season-ending oblique injury in September was voted Most Valuable Oriole after hitting 11 homers and driving in 32 runs with another .261 average.

In 2021, Santander suffered a sprained right ankle early in the season in Miami and played just 110 games, hitting .241 with 18 home runs and 50 RBIs.

As the Orioles got better, so did Santander. He had 33 homers and 89 RBIs with a .240 average and a .773 OPS in 2022. Last year, it was 28 homers, 95 RBIs, a .257 average and a .797 OPS. This past season, he drove in 102 runs to go along with those 44 homers and hit .235 with an .814 OPS.

For the third straight season, Santander avoided the injured list and was second on the team in games played with 155, though manager Brandon Hyde mentioned an ankle injury in discussing Santander’s contributions at Thursday’s end-of-season press conference.

“You take away 44 homers, that’s a big deal, especially how he stayed healthy all year, too,” Hyde said. “He did an amazing job of — he’s been battling, he’s had that ankle and some other things that, I’ve had to rest him quite a bit, or I tried to try to manage his playing time with him much as I possibly could, because I wanted him in the lineup.

“He played right field a ton this year and played it so well. So I was really impressed with how he could post, how he prepared, played defense. And then hit 44 homers for us with 100 RBIs. That’s a heck of a year. So I’m really happy for Anthony. It’s somebody that we care deeply about, somebody that was in my first spring training in 2019 and saw him switch hit right away. I had no idea who he was and it’s been a fun ride with him.”

Santander is an upbeat person. One of the highlights of clubhouse availability was Santander walking in and his: “How you doing, guys?” greeting.

When he first came to the Orioles, his English was limited, and though he usually had his trusty sidekick, translator Brandon Quinones, in tow to make sure he expressed himself properly, he became fluent in English and an often entertaining and informative interview.

His parents, who still live in his native Venezuela, spend much of the year traveling to their son’s games, and they were always good for a friendly greeting, too.

Now, it’s time for business. Santander should be a highly coveted free agent. Switch-hitting outfielders with power aren’t often available, and after the Yankees’ Juan Soto, who could sign a record-breaking contract, Santander should be the second-highest paid free-agent outfielder.

Others on the Orioles beat were asked in August what they thought Santander would command in free agency. I hadn’t thought about it, but I instinctively said, five years, $115 million.

Perhaps that’s high, but I have no doubt he’ll get at least four years and a dollar amount close to six figures.

Santander is nearly 30 years old and even with a new ownership group that will likely allow executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias to make more competitive offers than he has been able to in the past, it seems unlikely their first major extension will come to a player that old.

Santander will almost certainly reject the projected $21.2 million qualifying offer, and the Orioles will get a draft pick in compensation. I don’t have a clue what team will sign him, but they’ll get a power hitter who’s made himself into a good rightfielder, and a player who comes to work with a positive attitude.

Who the Orioles might replace him with will be a big question over the next several months.

Note: Left-hander Tucker Davidson has elected free agency instead of accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk.

Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering Orioles questions. If you have a question, please email it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com