![]() ![]() 182 wOBA on grounders from the left side in 2018–19 actually dropped to. And in case you’re wondering, Santana’s 16th-percentile sprint speed meant that any slow grounders hit to the fielder in short right weren’t likely to be infield hits. That 224-point drop corresponds with a 2.2 mph increase in average exit velocity and no change in average launch angle in other words, it’s likely due to the defensive adjustments. With the change, Santana’s wOBA on line drives as a lefty went from. ![]() Below is a heat map for his batted balls between a 10–25-degree launch angle from the left side: ![]() Why did teams make this change? Simple: Santana’s line drives throughout his career have often found a home in short right field. In 2018–19, that fielder was on the infield enough for Savant to register a blue glob on the dirt. In 2021–22, the fielder closest to a second baseman’s typical spot almost always played on the outfield grass. See if you notice the differences between 2018–19 (top) and ’21–22: Thereafter, defenses around the league made a subtle yet impactful change. The last time Santana posted a double-digit wRC+ as a lefty against the shift was 2019, when he ran an overall 138 wRC+ on the year, his second-best single-season total. Unsurprisingly, this three-year stretch has resulted in Santana’s three worst single-season wRC+ marks in his 13-year career, topping out at 102 in ’22. This was largely due to his -2 wRC+ against shifts as a lefty, which matched his mark from 2021 and wasn’t much worse than his 7 wRC+ in ’20. On the whole, Santana fared extremely poorly against the shift last season, with a paltry 18 wRC+ that placed him last among the 109 hitters who saw at least 200 traditional shifts. Below is a spray chart heatmap of Santana’s grounders from the left side in his career: This would put him right behind Joey Votto, who saw 205 traditional shifts compared to one no-shift alignment, atop the shift ratio leaderboard.Īll that shifting is for good reason. Yet as a left-hander, he saw 204 traditional shifts and just one no-shift alignment. Santana’s 7.88 traditional-shift-to-no-shift ratio (which I like to use because it takes out fickle situational shifts) placed him 63rd of 388 hitters with at least 100 balls in play this year. As a reminder, a traditional shift is when three infielders play on the pull side, two infielders play meaningfully out of their position toward the pull side, or one fielder (usually the second baseman) plays at least 10 feet onto the outfield grass. Naturally, teams regularly shifted against Santana. Moving the threshold to 1,500 puts Santana squarely at the top of that list (inactive players included). That brings his overall pulled-grounder percentage up to 67.2%, a mark that puts him sixth among the 203 players with at least 1,000 grounders since his debut in 2010 the only active player ahead of him, Eugenio Suárez, has hit 1,100 fewer grounders in his career. It’s hard to think of a player who has more to gain from that rule change than the switch-hitting former catcher, who is a pull hitter on grounders from both sides of the plate: 61.9% from the right side and 70.6% from the left.Īs a switch-hitter, Santana sees most of his plate appearances as a lefty, his even more pull-happy side. In Pittsburgh, he joins the recently acquired Ji-Man Choi and Lewin Díaz as 1B/DH options regardless of a positional surplus, perhaps Pittsburgh felt he was too tempting to pass up with the shift ban going into effect next season. It's about the pain of heartbreak and the hopeful belief that things will get better.On Friday, the rebuilding Pirates took a $6.7 million flier on 36-year-old Carlos Santana, who at this point in his career splits his time between DH and first base. ![]() Overall, "Them Changes" is a song about the complexity of relationships and the different emotions that come with them. Despite the pain, life goes on, and the singer reminds himself of this by repeating this phrase. The song encourages everyone to "clap your hands" and join in the party. The rhythm and tune are upbeat and catchy to get people to feel better after a couple of sad lyrics. The lyrics repeat "it's alright" several times, as if to reassure the singer and his listeners that everything will be okay in the end. The chorus of the song provides a glimmer of hope in the face of this sadness. This has left him feeling lost and confused, as evidenced by the repeated line "my mind is going through them changes." He feels like he might be going crazy, and he's not sure what to do with himself. The singer is struggling with the sudden change in his relationship, as his girlfriend left him unexpectedly. "Them Changes" is a song by Carlos Santana, and the lyrics center around the challenges of heartbreak and rejection. ![]()
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