“He can hit 50”: Anthony Santander’s home run prediction for his Blue Jays teammate Guerrero Jr. this season

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DUNEDIN, Fla. – What did Anthony Santander like about the prospect of taking the big money years of his career to the Blue Jays?

The former Baltimore Orioles slugger professes love his new home: “For the last seven years, Toronto has been my favourite road city to go.”

He likes at-bats at the Rogers Centre: “The new renovations suit my eye as a hitter.”

And of course all that cash – $92.5 million US over five years to inject some much-needed power into the Jays lineup – didn’t hurt either.

But high on the list, as one might expect from one big-time hitter to another, is slotting in a batting order next to Vlad Guerrero Jr. And after seeing him in action first as an AL East opponent and now as a hard-working teammate, Santander believes the sky as the limit for his new compadre.

“With the power that he has, he can hit 50 (home runs),” Santander said in an interview at the Jays player development complex here. “With the discipline he has and with the experience, he can definitely do that.”

This from a guy coming off a season in which he hit a career-high 44 homers with the O’s. The prospect of Guerrero hitting ahead of Santander for a one-two power punch in the Jays batting order not truly seen since Teoscar Hernandez left town has to have manager John Schneider salivating.

What does hitting behind a guy like Guerrero do for a guy like Santander?

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“We’re about to see that when the season starts,” Santander said of the potential in the heart of the new-look Jays lineup. “But I think it’s gonna be good because he’s a great hitter.

“They’re probably gonna have to pitch to me so we’ll see because a lot of it depends on who is hot and who is cold. The good thing is he is hot most of the year. We have to take advantage of that combination and do a lot of damage.”

Sounds like music to the ears of those who have suffered through too many 2-1 and 3-1 Blue Jays games over the past couple of seasons.

Santander has become a fast fit in the Blue Jays clubhouse, bringing energy to accompany the bat that banged out all those homers last season. As such, united with Guerrero he has the singular power to transform his new team’s lagging offence.

Of course, most would prefer Guerrero locked up for the duration of Santander’s five-year deal, but that ongoing drama remains unresolved.

So far in camp, Schneider sees productive interaction between his would-be power duo.

“I think they kind of (feed off each other), they’re leaning into that for sure,” Schneider said. “A little bit of it is getting bunched together in the lineup, but it rubs off in the clubhouse too. We’re around each other every day, all day, and, the three or four at-bats you get in the game. But I think the things that happen behind the scenes are just as important and getting to know each other, both as a hitter and as a player too. It is nice to kind of hear them talk during BP about certain things, and then kind of watch it unfold in games.”

That professionalism has been welcome veteran presence in the clubhouse of a team desperate to reverse fortune. And the manager suggests that early perception has exceeded expectations when it comes to Santander.

“You don’t really know what you’re going to get until you get the guy in here,” Schneider said. “We can kind of dreamed on it a little bit when we did sign him. But I’m getting into camp and hearing those conversations have been great.”

As a former division rival, Santander has had a degree of distanced admiration for the Jays.

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“We saw the signs in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 that they could be a great team, like they could do damage at any time,” Santander said. “But it’s a tough game and last year (it wasn’t) and we saw that.

“Its baseball. The Orioles got better. New York got better. There were a lot of injuries here. But everybody is here now and we have the goal to go out there and compete like those years.”

With a contract that computes as the third highest free agent contract issued to a Jays player, Santander will be expected to produce, of course. But he cautions that it isn’t all about the long ball.

“I know a lot of people want to see a lot of homers, but the whole point is how we can help the team win,” Santander said. “The situation in the game is going to dictate what we are going to do as a hitter. Our goal is to score as many runs as we can to win games. You’ve got to compete all the way from one to nine.”

With the heart of the order leading the way, of course.