The Phillies have signed switch-hitting first baseman Carlos Santana to a three-year contract, Vice President & General Manager Matt Klentak announced today. The deal includes a club option for 2021.
Santana, 31, hit .259 with 37 doubles, 23 home runs, 79 RBI, 88 walks, a .363 on-base percentage and an .818 OPS last season in 154 games for the Cleveland Indians. From June 26 through the end of the season, he batted .296 (85-287) with a .398 on-base percentage in his final 80 games. Santana, the 2017 Wilson Defensive Player of the Year at first base and a Gold Glove finalist at the position, made 139 starts there and seven each in right field and at designated hitter.
Over the past seven seasons (2011-17), Santana has appeared in the fifth-most games (1,070) among all major league players and leads all American League players in total walks (689) over that span. He has finished in the top five in the AL in walks in each of those seven years. Additionally, in two of the last five seasons (2013 & 2016), Santana has ranked among the top 10 AL players in on-base percentage.
A native of the Dominican Republic, Santana was originally signed as an amateur free agent by the Los Angeles Dodgers before being traded to the Indians in July of 2008. In 1,116 major league games - all with the Indians - Santana has batted .249 with 236 doubles, 174 home runs, 587 RBI, 726 walks and an .810 OPS.