Two unlikely Team MVPs ten years apart
Thus far in 2024, Willi Castro has surpassed all expectations and established himself as ’24 Team MVP. Though the gray matter inside his noggin is sometimes called into question, his versatility is vital for Rocco Baldelli’s platoon-heavy approach.
Ten years ago—2014—a similar scenario played out that perhaps staged Castro’s success.
The Minnesota Twins signed Danny Santana out of Monte Plata, Dominican Republic in 2007. He spent six seasons at various rungs of the Twins’ minor league system learning how to become a major leaguer and acclimating into a new culture. Ostensibly, Santana was a shortstop prospect—but more due to overall athleticism than proclivity for picking it.
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A month into 2014, the Twins were hanging on the fringes of respectability and still looking to make aggressive, team-improving moves. With starting SS Pedro Florimon hitting almost 100 points below even the Mendoza Line, Santana was sent to the big club for the first time. Not so much to play shortstop—Eduardo Escobar was tagged with that duty—as to be a fill-in around the diamond.
At the same time, 24-year old Aaron Hicks was still having difficulties manning the swath recently vacated by Denard Span. So, Danny picked up the most opportunities in CF.
He collected his first MLB knock in short order…
His initial home run followed soon after…
Roaming CF often and filling in at SS, Santana continued to sizzle through the summer…
All told, Santana put up this impressive rookie line: 430 PA, 27 2B, 7 3B, 20 SB, .319 BA, .824 OPS, team-leading 130 OPS+. Yes—Danny Santana was the best offensive player on the 2014 Minnesota Twins. He also finished with the most starting nods in center field (62) and played in 31 others at shortstop.
While positional flexibility wasn’t quite the necessity in ’14 as it is in ’24, Santana’s ability to bop between premiere OF & IF stations was unique.
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Alas, Danny never again sniffed ’14 fortunes in a Twins uniform. Routinely posting low-.600 OPS values for a few years, Santana was traded to Atlanta in early ‘17 for cash & a prospect (Kevin Chapman). After bouncing around to a few squads, his career looked to be at an end.
Remarkably, Santana somehow re-surfaced as a slugger with the 2019 Texas Rangers (that year’s rabbit ball likely helped): 511 PA, 28 HR, 21 SB, .283 BA, .857 OPS, 112 OPS+.
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But again, his production immediately cratered afterwards and he was last seen with the Boston Red Sox in 2021.
This year, Willi Castro has taken positional flexibility to an entirely new level. But seemingly every ten years or so, the likes of Denny Hocking (‘94), Nick Punto (‘04), and Santana (‘14) helped clear that path.
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