The Kansas City Royals announced today that they have agreed to a two-year contract with free agent first baseman Carlos Santana. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Santana, 34, had eight home runs and 30 RBI with the Cleveland Indians in 2020 while starting all 60 games at first base, and led the American League with 47 walks. In 2019, he was named an All-Star and Silver Slugger at first base for the first time in his career, after setting career highs in batting average (.281), slugging percentage (.515), OPS (.911), runs (110), hits (161), home runs (34, tied) and RBI (93).
The switch-hitting Santana has spent 10 of his 11 Major League seasons with the Cleveland Indians, and is among the organization’s all-time leaders in walks (2nd, 881), home runs (216, tied for 5th) and doubles (273, 10th). Since making his debut in 2010, Santana ranks second in the Majors with 991 walks, trailing only Joey Votto (1,083). He also ranks fifth in the Majors with 1,495 games played during that span. Among switch hitters since 2010, Santana leads the Majors in home runs (240), runs (799), extra-base hits (557) and RBI (796).
Santana has hit .288 with a .416 on-base percentage and .537 slugging percentage, 31 home runs and 93 RBI in his career vs. the Royals, the last two of which are his best totals vs. any opponent. He has 18 home runs in 74 career games at Kauffman Stadium, his most in any ballpark outside of Cleveland. Santana’s 1.077 lifetime OPS at The K is tied with Tim Salmon for the best all-time, and his 18 home runs rank fifth among visiting players in the 48-year history of Kauffman Stadium, trailing only Juan González (22), Paul Konerko (19), Rafael Palmeiro (19) and Álex Rodríguez (19).
