Shortly after reporting for spring training, Anthony Santander approached teammate Gunnar Henderson with an idea: a friendly, season-long home run contest.
The veteran outfielder saw unlimited potential in Henderson, the reigning American League Rookie of the Year. Santander envisioned 40-plus homer years in the shortstop’s future as the Baltimore Orioles’ cornerstone. But the season is long, he figured. They could use the competition to push each other along the way.
Henderson agreed. At the time, Henderson hit 18 home runs in May. Santander had half that number.
“I started off a little slow,” Santander said in Spanish this week. “He started saying, 'Boom!' So in June I told him, 'Boy, I need you to keep going, because I'm going to hit 10 home runs this month.'”
Santander sold himself cheap. He hit 13 in June, building on a timely breakout campaign that has continued into August. On Tuesday, Santander hit his 37th homer of the season, four more than Henderson and tied with Marcell Ozuna for third in the majors. Only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani have hit more.
Santander and Henderson are one of only two duos in baseball with more than 30 home runs. Judge and Juan Soto are the others.
“Now he's the one saying, 'Keep going, keep going,'” Santander said with a laugh. “And that's how we're going. We've got good competition.”
For all the attention the Orioles' wave of young talent has garnered, Santander has flown under the radar as an indispensable member of a team seeking its second straight AL East title. The switch-hitting hitter's 37 homers are already a career high. His .824 OPS (second on the club behind Henderson) would be a career best for an unshortened season. His 82 RBIs lead the team.
In July, Santander earned his first All-Star nod in what may be his final season in Baltimore; the 29-year-old is scheduled to become a free agent — and likely receive a life-changing payday — this winter. It’s a remarkable rise for a 2016 Rule 5 selection who joined the Orioles with a surgically repaired right shoulder and without a single game above High-A on his resume.
“It's been fun watching Anthony really develop over the last five years and become a very good middle-of-the-order major leaguer,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said.
Hyde was hired to replace Buck Showalter before the 2019 season, two years after Santander became an Oriole and a year into the organization’s agonizing rebuild, which was down to the best players. Yet Santander was able to share a locker room, briefly, with players who were part of the Orioles’ previous playoff core: All-Stars Manny Machado, Adam Jones, JJ Hardy and Mark Trumbo. That experience guided him through all the losses: the 47-win season and worst finish in 2018; the 54-win struggle in 2019; and the 52-win nightmare in 2021.
“I think that's what helps guide the team to where it is today,” said Cedric Mullins, another veteran outfielder who weathered the storm earlier in the decade. “We've been able to understand what it's really like to go through those types of years. We've been able to see what winning teams do and how they approach things day to day. We try to incorporate that and a lot of players have adapted to that and we've seen the results.”
Sure enough, the results were better in 2022, as the Orioles won 83 games and Santander posted career highs in hits, homers and RBIs. Last year was Baltimore’s coming-out party: 101 wins and a division title, plus another solid season for Santander.
This year, the Orioles, who are battling the New York Yankees for the AL East crown, are among the favorites for the World Series in a very tight race. It could be Santander's final stretch at Camden Yards.
Santander has said he wants to stay in Baltimore, but the club has not started talks with his representatives about an extension. Santander has his shortcomings (he's hitting .236 with a .304 on-base percentage, metrics indicate he's not a strong defender despite elite arm strength, and he's a below-average baserunner), but management values power highly, and he has plenty of it.
Juan Soto leads the list of free agents this offseason. Behind him, Teoscar Hernandez, Santander and possibly Cody Bellinger (if he decides to opt out of his current contract) should be the most sought-after outfielders of the winter.
“Obviously, it's something you think about because it's something that's going to be there in the future, but I'm just focused on the moment,” Santander said. “What do I have to do to get there? It's going well, but there are still six weeks left. Anything can happen. The most important thing is to stay healthy.”
Health has not been an issue this season. Santander has started 121 of the Orioles' 129 games — 102 in right field and 20 as the designated hitter. He was the right fielder Tuesday when his two-run homer gave Baltimore a 2-0 lead in an eventual 9-5 victory against the New York Mets at Citi Field.
The hit – his 26th as a right-hander this season – left him three homers shy of becoming the eighth switch-hitter to reach 40 in a season and extended his lead over Henderson with less than six weeks to play.
“Whoever's in front, all we have to do is keep going,” Henderson said. “Because the guy behind is always like, 'Yeah, I'm going to catch him.' It's fun to have that guy to compete with. We're having fun.”
