From Rule 5 pick to Eutaw Street home run record holder, it was quite an Orioles tenure.
In a past era of the Orioles, when a player who had contributed to multiple fun teams departed in trade or as a free agent, I offered a Birdland Salute. This custom was initially extended to 2012 and 2014 O’s. Veterans of the 2022-2024 Orioles will also receive it.
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In the beginning, Anthony Santander was teammates with Adam Jones and Manny Machado. He later overlapped with such undistinguished tanking-era Orioles as Rio Ruiz and Pat Valaika. By the end, he was the veteran as a new generation of great Orioles, starting with Adley Rutschman, arrived on the scene. His eight years as an Oriole went through three distinct arcs. It was a real journey.
Hardly anyone could have guessed that Santander would be an Oriole of note when he was picked out of the Cleveland system in the Rule 5 draft ahead of the 2017 season. At the time of that draft, Santander was 22 years old and had never played a game above the High-A level of the minor leagues. Only through injured list shenanigans that likely would not have survived any real scrutiny could the O’s, who were still pretending in 2017 to contend, carry him. He was banished to the minors as soon as the Orioles had secured control of him in 2018. We could have very easily never seen or thought of him again.
The next year, winning was no longer strategically relevant, which offered opportunities to try out a variety of untested players, eventually including Santander. On a team with so many bad players, Santander stood out as a young-ish guy who at least did okay: He hit 20 home runs in just 93 games, batting .261/.297/.476 while getting a little time at all three outfield spots. This was one of a few players where you could think, maybe he’ll hang around to be on the next good Orioles team.
What really made Santander a memorable player from that 2019 season was that he happened to be playing left field in Baltimore on a day where a large number of kids from the United Kingdom were visiting Camden Yards. Throughout the game, they could be heard cheering every time Santander made a catch or waved at them or tossed them a foul ball. This spontaneous pure interaction may well be the happiest memory for Orioles fans from a team that ended up finishing 54-108.
Players having feel-good moments from those bad years did not guarantee any lasting success. If it did, Stevie Wilkerson’s crazy late-night extra inning save would have him still kicking around today. Santander was able to avoid being an otherwise forgettable guy by continuing to play at least decently. In fact, in the truncated 2020 season, Santander was the best Orioles player, finishing at 1.6 bWAR even though he got injured and only played in 37 of the 60 games. This was still enough time for him to homer 11 times and slug .575.
This was not a consistent upward arc. Santander was a below-average hitter the next year as he missed more time with some injury issues. Entering what turned out to be the start of the Orioles improvement in 2022, there was still no guarantee that Santander would be one of the guys to see the far side of the rebuilding project.
As we know now, part of what was able to make that the turnaround year is that enough of the returning pieces clicked together. That included Santander, who played 150+ games for the first time, blasted 33 homers, and finished as a well-above-average hitter. That was rare power that year as the league had deadened the balls except for when Aaron Judge was playing. Santander’s 33 home runs were tied for fifth in the AL.
Along the way, he picked up the fun nickname of Tony Taters, one he kept living up to by homering or otherwise driving in important runs. None of the good Orioles teams of the last three years would have been what they were without Santander delivering in the heart of the order. His 2024 season was his best yet in the power department: 44 home runs and 102 runs batted in. RBIs don’t mean what they used to in the world of baseball statistics, but driving in 100+ is still a solid accomplishment.
The power will be missed in the lineup. Also missed will be his joviality, the way that he always seemed to be having a blast and keeping everyone around him loose. Some guys just have that aura. My wife will miss the walkup music that always got her dancing in her seat and Santander’s delightful habit of shouting out the Orioles Spanish language interpreter, Brandon Quinones – who he no longer needed by later in his tenure – in every interview, “My man Q.”
As he leaves the Orioles, Santander carries with him a share of the all-time Eutaw Street home run record. The switch-hitter has hit 11 of his home runs out onto the bricks, tied for Chris Davis for the most. Though Santander won’t be climbing up any of the Orioles franchise leaderboards with anything else he does in his career, this is one record he could still take as a Blue Jay. His five year contract will see him with 6-7 games in Baltimore each year. I think he knows the way back.
With everything said and done, Santander batted .246/.307/.469 across eight seasons for the team that plucked him out of obscurity in the Rule 5 draft. He notched 11.1 bWAR over those eight years, but crucially, 8.3 came in the last three seasons, when winning was strategically relevant and the Orioles needed him most. He delivered, and he more than deserved the All-Star bid he got in the 2024 season, one of five Orioles to make that squad.
Santander was Rule 5 drafted. He played. He is Birdland. We shall never see his like again.