-
Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
Shortly after reporting to spring training, Anthony Santander approached teammate Gunnar Henderson with an idea: a friendly season home run contest.
The veteran outfielder sees sky-is-the-limit potential in Henderson, the American League rookie of the year. Santander envisioned years of 40-plus home runs in short seasons as a cornerstone of the Baltimore Orioles. But the season is long, he thought. They can use competition to nudge each other through the grind.
Henderson accepted. On cue, Henderson hit 18 home runs through May. Santander has half as many.
“I started a bit slow,” Santander said in Spain this week. “He started, ‘Boom!’ So in June I told her, ‘Miss, I need you to keep going, because I’m going to hit 10 home runs this month.'”
Santander is selling itself short. He reached 13 in June, cementing a timely breakout campaign that continued into August. Santander on Tuesday hit his 37th home run of the season, four more than Henderson and tied with Marcell Ozuna for third most in the majors. Only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani have more.
Santander and Henderson form one of only two duos in baseball with 30-plus home runs. Hakim and Juan Soto are the others.
“Now he’s like, ‘Go ahead, go ahead,'” Santander said with a laugh. “And that’s how we’re going to have good competition.”
With all the attention the Orioles’ wave of young talent has rightly garnered, Santander has soared on the radar as an indispensable member of a team seeking a second straight AL East title. The switch-hitter’s 37 home runs were a career high. His .824 OPS — second on the club behind Henderson — would be a career best for an unabridged season. His 82 RBI led the team.
In July, Santander got his first All-Star Game nod in what may be his last season in Baltimore; the 29-year-old from Venezuela is scheduled for free agency, and the possibility of a life-changing payday, this season. It’s been a remarkable ascent for the 2016 Rule 5 pick who joined the Orioles with a surgically repaired right shoulder and not a single game above High-A on his resume.
“It’s been exciting to see Anthony really become what he has been for the last five years and become a great major league player in the middle of the order,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said.
Hyde was hired to replace Buck Showalter before the 2019 season, two years after Santander became an Oriole and a year into a hurting and rebuilding organization. However, Santander will have to share a clubhouse — for a while — with players who were part of the Orioles’ previous playoff core: All-Stars Manny Machado, Adam Jones, JJ Hardy and Mark Trumbo. That experience guided him through all the losses: a 47-win, rock-bottom season in 2018; 54-win streak in 2019; and a 52-win nightmare in 2021.
“I think that’s what helped lead the team to where it is now,” said Cedric Mullins, another veteran outfielder who rode the storm at the end of the decade. “We’ve been able to understand what it’s really like to go through those types of years. We’ve been able to see what winning teams do and how they do it every day. We try to put it together and a lot of guys align with that and we’ve seen the results.”
Of course, the results were even better in 2022, as the Orioles won 83 games and Santander posted career highs in hits, home runs and RBI. Last year there was a Baltimore party that came out: 101 wins and a division title, plus another strong season for Santander.
This year, the Orioles, who are battling the New York Yankees for the AL East crown, are among the World Series favorites in a wide-open race. It could be the last Santander to call Camden Yards home.
Santander has said he wants to stay in Baltimore, but the club has not entered into talks with his representatives. Santander has flaws — he’s batting .236 with a .304 on-base percentage, those metrics show he’s not a strong defender even though he has elite arm strength, and he’s a below-average baserunner — but the front office is. The value of power is highly, and he has a lot.
Juan Soto headlines the free-agent class this offseason. Behind him, Teoscar Hernández, Santander and possibly Cody Bellinger — if he opts out of his current contract — should be the most sought-after outfielders of the winter.
“Obviously, that’s what you think about because there’s something in the future, but I’m focused on the moment,” Santander said. “What do I have to do to get there? It’s going well, but there’s still six weeks left. Anything can happen. The important thing is to stay healthy.”
Health is not an issue this season. Santander has started 121 of the Orioles’ 129 games — 102 in right field and 20 as designated hitter. He was the right player on Tuesday when a two-run home run gave Baltimore a 2-0 lead late in a 9-5 win over the New York Mets at Citi Field.
The blast — the right-hander’s 26th at-bat of the season — moved him to three home runs to become the eighth switch hitter to hit 40 in a season, and extended his lead over Henderson by less than six weeks. .
“Whoever’s in front, it’s like, ‘Keep going,'” Henderson said. “Because the one in the back is always like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to catch him.’ It’s fun to have someone to compete with us.
