Washington Nationals Should Be Wary of This Power Hitter in Free Agency
The needs of the Washington Nationals heading into the MLB offseason are clear.
Looking to climb out of their rebuild, they want to bring in some established veterans who will help raise the ceiling of the team. Offensively, the biggest void in the lineup is lack of power.
The Nationals finished second to last in home runs last season with 135. Th Chicago White Sox, with 133, had fewer. Luckily for them, there are several players available in free agency who are capable of filling that void.
One of the players who would seem like a natural fit for Washington is Baltimore Orioles right fielder, Anthony Santander.
A powerful switch-hitter, he launched a career-high 44 home runs this past season with 102 runs batted in. Inserting that into the middle of a lineup that already includes CJ Abrams, Luis Garcia Jr., James Wood and Dylan Crews would certainly excite manager Dave Martinez.
Those big power numbers, as he averages 34 per 162 games played, is what is going to get Santander paid. There are some evaluators who believe that he could land a contract that pays nine figures.
Washington is almost assuredly going to be in the mix, but they need to exhibit some caution in their pursuit. As shared by Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, his power numbers may not be all that they seem to be. He explains that what a team could expect and get, based on history, are two different things.
“Santander’s expected home run total was 36.6, meaning that some of his 44 home runs were the result of being in the right place at the right time, hitting the ball to the right part of the ballpark. Based on some of his underlying stats (exit velocity, hard hit rate and walk rate), Santander’s 2024 actually wasn’t too much of a spike year offensively," he wrote.
A vaunted power hitter for sure, there are holes in his game. His slugging percentages from the left and right side of the plate are nearly identical, at .467 and .470 respectively, so it isn’t a matter of maybe he should stick to one side.
If you are going to commit that kind of money to a player who is a bit one-dimensional, they need to be elite in the area you are paying them in. Santander can certainly hit home runs, but his career year may be a bit fluky by some standards.
On the positive side, he is getting the ball into the air regularly, as his fly ball rate has improved four years in a row and his groundball rate is well below the league average.
Is Santander a perfect player? No. But the one thing he does well would certainly help the Nationals immensely. Even his expected home run number of 36 would be nearly twice as much of Washington's returning leader, which is Abrams with 20.
