Ready to contribute, Carlos Santana makes Brewers debut Saturday against the Braves
ATLANTA – Batting third and playing first base for the Milwaukee Brewers, Carlos Santana.
The Brewers first trade-deadline acquisition after being sent over from the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday, Santana arrived at Truist Park on Saturday ahead of the game against the Atlanta Braves with hopes of improving the team’s offense, defense and dance moves.
“Baseball is hard,” said Santana, who hinted that some potential victory celebrations were in the works. “Winning is hard. When you win, do something fun so you want to win again the next day.”
Santana, 37, was already providing a veteran presence in the clubhouse upon his arrival. The Brewers hope he can provide an impact to the lineup, too.
Milwaukee had gotten a slash line of just .212/.272/.340 (average, on-base, slugging) from its first basemen in 2023 at the time of the trade.
Santana is batting .235/.321/.412 with 12 homers and 25 doubles.
Since June 27, he has a .890 OPS and 14 extra-base hits in 25 games.
“It’s a long season, ups and downs,” Santana said. “I’m preparing to play hard every day. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. But I never have my head down. All the time, I’m positive and doing the most I can.”
Santana also leads all MLB first basemen with six defensive runs saved and said he takes the craft as seriously as the Brewers do.
“I’m working hard on my defense, preparing every day,” Santana said. “When you’re preparing and helping the team, something positive is going to happen.”
From last place with the Pirates to first with the Brewers, there was no doubt that Santana was taking the move in stride.
“I want to play here,” he said. “I can see when facing them a couple times, the team plays hard. They’re in a great position right now to fight for the playoffs. We’re in first place now. This is what I want.”
Justin Wilson placed on 15-day injured list
Brewers reliever Justin Wilson, who suffered an injury while warming up in the bullpen Friday night, has a significant injury to his left lat area, Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Saturday.
Wilson was set to make his first big-league appearance since having Tommy John surgery last summer when he felt something in his penultimate warmup pitch. It prevented him from coming in the game and now may keep him out for the entire season.
"I talked to Justin a little bit today, and the thing that stuck with me from what he said is that he was nervous going into the game last night for 'the first time in I don't know how long,'" Counsell said. "And he's talking about when he was an active big leaguer, too. That's the feeling the players all want, they want that good, nervous feeling. That's the special feeling about going into competition that players all love. To have the plug pulled on it so fast is just awful."
Trevor Megill was recalled from Class AAA in a corresponding move.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Carlos Santana makes Brewers debut following trade from Pirates
