Carlos Santana's bat is heating up at just the right time

Carlos Santana had gotten off to somewhat of a rough start in his third stint with the team. Cleveland's primary first baseman had numbers that are considered far below average, and it was not exactly what the Guardians were hoping for when they brought Santana back for a third go-around in Cleveland. However, his recent performance shows a bat that is beginning to click at the plate and could prove to be impactful moving forward.

In his last five games, Santana is 6-19 with two home runs, both coming during Thursday's doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins. The 1.1013 OPS and 187 wRC+ posted during that span is clearly a step in the right direction for Santana, even if the Guardians won just one of those five games. As frustrating as the losses may have been, the main story here is that the Guardians have another player making an impact at the plate when they need it most.

Sure, five games is a very small sample size, and basing anything off of it would be unwise. However, this is just the highest-performing stretch of what has been a more productive month of May for Santana. The 39-year-old has a .255/.400/.491 slash line with four home runs, 1 double, 17 runs driven in, and 12 runs scored in 17 games played, resulting in a 157 weighted runs created plus in that span.

When comparing Santana's May with his March/April, the difference is night and day. Santana had 23 hits in 105 at-bats with two homers, two doubles, and a wRC+ of 71. There was also the somewhat concerning 21-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio in those 29 games, but that has normalized back to 14-13 during May, showing that Santana still has an elite ability to reach first via base on balls, and that is a skill that never goes out of style.

Now, no one is going to confuse this version of Santana with being the savior of this Guardians team. However, Santana being able to perform at this level during May, even if it is a toned-down version of his best self from years prior, is a big boost for this lineup. This gives another bat that opposing pitchers have to worry about in the heart of their order, and this could be what finally gets this team clicking on all cylinders offensively.

Who knows? Maybe the Guardians can earn a split or even win their four-game-set with the AL-Central leading Detroit Tigers. It may not have seemed possible just a few days ago, but with this version of Santana being the perfect complementary bat in Cleveland's lineup, anything is possible.