Cristian Santana. Photo by Rich Crimi/Tulsa Drillers.
Dodgers Prospect Watch: Cristian Santana
Name: Cristian Santana.
Vitals: Third base, first base, shortstop. 6' 2" 175, age 23, bats right, throws right. From San Cristobal, Dominican Republic.
Highest level of play: 2019 Tulsa Drillers.
Baseball America 2020 ranking: 15th among Dodgers prospects.
Likely date for major league debut: 2020/2021.
Dodgers Spring Training stats: 2-7, both singles, one walk, two strikeouts, .286/.286/.661.
Baseball America scouting report (subscription required): "...an aggressive hitter who hunts fastballs and punishes them … swings early to avoid getting into breaking ball counts … isn't overly rangy at third base, but he makes highlight-reel reaction plays and has a plus-plus arm.”
Comment: I followed Santana's 2019 season closely and enjoyed watching him play on MILB.tv (which was a great $49/year investment the last time I checked). He hit .301/.320/.436 with 10 home runs and 57 RBIs in 399 at bats spending the entire year with the Double-A Tulsa Drillers. Needs to walk more, clearly. The guess here is he does in 2020.
Santana has progressed nicely through the Dodgers' system, hitting .363/.390/.563 in 44 Great Lakes Loons games plus 10 with the rookie-level Odgen Raptors in 2017. He followed up with a fine full 2018 season at Rancho Cucamonga: .274/302/.447 (again, the lack of walks), with 24 homers and 109 RBIs.
Getting a look with the big club now, 2020 is Santana's opportunity to impress. Watch the exhibition games and let me know what you think.
And remember, glove conquers all ... but OBP helps.
Howard Cole has been writing about baseball on the internet since Y2K. Follow him on Twitter.
