The seventh position preview examines shortstop, where Minnesota's Danny Santana returns to his regular position after spending most of his impressive rookie year in the outfield.
PROJECTED STARTER
Danny Santana (.319/.353/.472, 7 HR, 20 SB, 40 RBI in 101 games)
KEY BACKUPS
2014 IN REVIEW
Last year was a breakout season for Santana, although not necessarily as a shortstop. With Minnesota needing a center fielder, the Twins moved the athletic Santana from shortstop to the outfield for a good chunk of the year. Of the 101 games Santana played as a rookie, 69 of them were as a center fielder. He was only at shortstop for 34 games. Escobar, meanwhile, made 86 starts at shortstop.
The fact that Santana was learning a new position last year made his offensive numbers even more impressive. His .319 average was more than 30 points higher than any other qualified Twins batter last year, and his .472 slugging percentage was also tops on Minnesota's roster. Santana also showed off his speed when he stole 20 bases on 24 attempts and hit seven triples.
Santana showed off a strong arm at shortstop and committed just two errors in his 34 games there (in 120 chances). Escobar was also solid defensively at shortstop, with five errors in 359 chances. After some inconsistencies at the shortstop position in recent years, Santana and Escobar helped solidify it from a defensive standpoint. According to FanGraphs, Minnesota's shortstops combined to rank seventh in baseball in total defense at that position.
Though Escobar and Santana held down the shortstop spot for most of the year, the Twins also used Pedro Florimon (26 games), Nunez (17 games), Doug Bernier (1 game) and Jorge Polanco (1 game) throughout the course of the 2014 season. Nunez played in just 72 total games after coming over from the Yankees last year but struggled to find consistent playing time in the infield.
2015 OUTLOOK
New manager Paul Molitor has made it clear that Santana will be a shortstop this year, and not in center field. In fact, Santana has already been named the Twins' Opening Day shortstop, while it appears either Jordan Schafer or Shane Robinson will be Minnesota's center fielder to start the year. Santana was a shortstop for almost the entirety of his seven minor-league seasons, so returning to his natural position should be a positive for the 24-year-old Dominican Republic native.
The question now is how Molitor will find time for Escobar if Santana indeed holds down shortstop on a regular basis. Escobar swung a hot bat in spring to piggyback off his strong offensive season in 2014 when he played a career-high 133 games. Escobar has said he prefers to play shortstop, too, but he and Santana can't play the same position at the same time. Escobar's versatility means he'll likely bounce around the infield, but he seemed to thrive as an everyday player last year.
Like Escobar and Santana, Nunez is also a natural shortstop, with 172 of his 318 big-league games coming at that position. He, too, can play several infield spots as well as the outfield -- where he spent 18 games with the Twins last year. If Santana and Escobar are battling for playing time at shortstop, Nunez might be the odd man out at that position.
KEY TO SUCCESS
Avoid the sophomore slump. Santana turned a lot of heads last year as a rookie and injected life into the Twins' roster. Though he finished seventh in the American League Rookie of the Year voting, the fact that Santana was even in the conversation was a positive for Minnesota. Now he needs to show that 2014 was not a fluke and that he can at least come close to putting up similar numbers at the plate in 2015.
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