Hello Cleveland! The Carlos Santana Era Begins Tonight

Another day, another top prospect making his debut in the show. The Cleveland Indians have called up catcher Carlos Santana today, and word is that he could be in the lineup on Sunday when the Tribe host the Nationals and Stephen Strasburg.↵

↵↵Santana was originally in the Dodgers organization but was traded in the deal that sent Casey Blake to Los Angeles. Now, with Lou Marson just flat-out unable to hit at the major league level right now, the Indians are hoping that Santana is the answer to finally replacing Victor Martinez behind the dish. He’ll even wear Martinez’s old number.↵

↵↵Unlike Marson, who was traded to Cleveland in the Cliff Lee deal last year, Santana should be able to hit. The switch-hitter is batting .316 in Triple-A Columbus with 13 homers and 14 doubles in 57 games (196 at bats). He has an OPS of 1.044 this season as well. The question is, can he throw?↵

↵↵⇥GM Mark Shapiro said recently that the Indians wanted Santana to improve on controlling the running game. He has a strong arm, but his transfer (moving the ball from his glove to his throwing hand) needs work. His arm action can get long as well.↵⇥↵⇥“He’s young. He’s got a cannon and he wants people to see it,” [Indians manager Manny] Acta said. “Sometimes he gets a little long [throwing motion] because of it. He does fine during the drills, but it changes during the game.”↵⇥

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When he does get in the game expect the Nationals to run on him, as he’s just 9-for-31 throwing runners out this season. Last I checked, that’s not very good.↵↵But he can hit! And for a team that’s 10th in the American League in batting at .246 and 12th in slugging at .367, they could use the help. Besides, he’s got an unbelievable selection for at-bat music. Personally, I’d go with this one:↵

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