During the 2017-2018 offseason, we here at LOD are putting together a different kind of prospect list than you’re used to seeing. As opposed to typical prospect rankings, we are going position by position to give you the names to look out for in each organization in the upcoming season. You can view previous articles in this series here: Pitcher, Catcher, First Base, Second Base,
We continue our journey around the Dodgers infield as part five of our series takes us to the hot corner. While fan favorite Justin Turner has a lock on the position with the big league club, there are some impressive young ballplayers developing behind him, and a whole lot of power.
Third Base – Cristian Santana – 2017 Teams: Ogden (Rookie), Great Lakes (Single-A)
2017 Statistics: .363/.390/.563, .953 OPS, 10 HR, 41 RBI
Cristian Santana signed with the Dodgers back in 2014 as a 17 year old out of the Dominican Republic. He then spent two seasons in the Dominican Summer League before joining the Dodgers Arizona League team in 2016. He began his fourth season of affiliated ball with another stop in Rookie League, this time in Ogden, but was called up after just 10 games and being named the Pioneer League’s first 2017 Player of the Week.
He played in 44 games for Single-A Great Lakes and had a breakout season despite a short DL stint. His overall 2017 numbers are a little bit inflated from his unreal 10 games in Ogden, but he still posted a slugging percentage of .460 with a wRC+ of 124 during his time in the Midwest League.
Santana is extremely aggressive at the plate, which he can afford to be at the lower levels, and his walk to strikeout ratio of 0.12 at Single-A, yes 0.12, is evidence of that. He is willing to swing at just about anything, but when he makes contact he has the potential to do serious damage.
Santana showcases incredible raw power, but he has a lot of timing mechanisms in his swing that may need to be phased out to limit the strikeouts. He waves his hands in his stance and it carries over deep into the pitcher’s delivery. He has a low leg kick with a heel tap when he steps back, but the hands are extremely quick through the zone allowing him some room for all of the extra movement, for now. One thing is for sure, if he is swinging, he is swinging hard.
Defensively Santana profiles very well at third base. He moves side to side well in the field and has a pretty sure glove with a good arm. He has played elsewhere around the infield, but his 6’2 175 pound frame seems to handle the hot corner the best.
Sanatana is a guy that I am very high on. You can live with the strikeouts for now as long as the walk rate can come up a little bit, but the raw power this guy possesses should make Dodgers fans excited. Couple that with his strong presence defensively and this is definitely one guy to keep your eye on in the Dodgers system.
Check back tomorrow as our Dodgers prospect preview takes us to our final infield position, shortstop.
