Santander Walk Rate

[BRobinsonfan]

When did Santander become an on base machine?

After 15 games he leads the team in .obp with .452.  He's drawn 13 walks... the next closest is Hays with 7.  He has 23.6% of the total walks of the entire team.  Last year he earned 23 walks in 406 at bats.  This year he is over halfway to that point in only 46 at bats.  I understand this is still a small sample size, but is he doing something different at the plate or is this just a fluke?  

[Moose Milligan]

This is a good question.  At what point is a demonstrably better selective eye/plate patience not a fluke?  I dunno.

If I heard Brown correctly, he's the only player in the majors to reach base in all 15 games.  That's impressive.

[Frobby]

I think he’s clearly making an effort to be more selective.   Good for him.   He’s the only player in our lineup who’s got an OPS over .700, so maybe pitchers are being a little extra careful with him, too.

[jdwilde1]

The big question is how Santander fits in long term if he goes from a  guy drawing 30 walks a  year to 70-80 walks a year.  Or, how much does his trade value increase?  He has legit pop from both sides and is a solid corner outfielder, but has struggled staying on the field.  Regardless, just a great Rule 5 pickup.

[Just Regular]

Fingers crossed he can put the peanut butter and jelly together and crush a few, and maybe start to flirt with being a 2021 Mullins level win for player development.    He and Gunnar have had kind of a similar first few weeks of 2022.

Entering 2021 I felt he had a chance to be the alpha dog in the Santander-Mountcastle-Mancini group, but never was able to really untrack after wrecking his ankle right out of the gate.   How did DL Hall put it?   Delayed, not denied.

I still have hopes he'll be an Arb3-Arb4 tender a team is happy to have despite many RBI's.