Fastball

Minnesota Twins Free Agent Made Baseball History as Gold Glove Winner in 2024

Carlos Santana continues to add to his trophy case as his career winds down.

Brady Farkas

Minnesota Twins first base Carlos Santana (30) catches a ball holding Miami Marlins outfielder Jesús Sánchez (12) to first base in the seventh inning at Target Field on Sept 26.
Minnesota Twins first base Carlos Santana (30) catches a ball holding Miami Marlins outfielder Jesús Sánchez (12) to first base in the seventh inning at Target Field on Sept 26. / Matt Blewett-Imagn Images
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On Sunday night, Minnesota Twins first baseman Carlos Santana made some unique baseball history by winning the American League Gold Glove Award at first base.

Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

at 38 years & 174 days old on final day of the season, Carlos Santana is the oldest position player to win his 1st career Gold Glove Award

3rd oldest overall to win 1st GG, behind pitchers Phil Niekro in 1978 (39 y, 184 d) & R.A. Dickey in 2013 (38 y, 336 d)

h/t @EliasSports

It was a great year overall for Santana, who is regarded as a great clubhouse presence everywhere he goes. It is the first Gold Glove win for Santana, who came up as a catcher earlier in his career.

The following comes from an MLB.com article on Santana's accomplishment:

Santana’s four errors were the second fewest among qualified AL first basemen, behind only the three from Baltimore’s Ryan Mountcastle, who played nearly 300 fewer innings at the position. Under the hood, Santana led his position with 14 outs above average and tied Mountcastle for the lead with eight defensive runs saved.

In fact, Santana’s outs above average total was tied for 13th among qualified MLB defenders, highest among any player who wasn’t a middle infielder or a center fielder.

The 38-year-old Santana just finished his 15th year in the big leagues with the Cleveland franchise, the Kansas City Royals, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Seattle Mariners, the Pittsburgh Pirates, Milwaukee Brewers and Twins.

In addition to his glove, he also provided value at the plate this season. He hit .238 with 23 homers and 71 RBI.

He is now a free agent and should continue to have plenty of interest on the open market.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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