Lakeland, Fla. — Out on the back fields at Joker Marchant Stadium on Tuesday, two of the most intriguingly talented young players at this minicamp took turns fielding ground balls and making throws, then, moving to an adjacent field, knocking fly balls off a pitching machine over the left field fence and on to Lake Parker Drive.
Eighteen-year-old Cristian Santana and 19-year-old Manuel Sequera represent the future of the shortstop position in Detroit. Connected in so many ways, yet they are from two different countries with very different on-field personalities.
Here’s a window into that. Both were asked after the workout Tuesday what it was like for them to take instruction from Hall of Famer Alan Trammell? Trammell, 64 and a senior adviser to general manager Al Avila, has been assisting infield coordinators Angel Berroa, Billy Boyer and Gabe Alvarez (also the manager of Double-A Erie).
Sequera, who signed for $750,000 out of Venezuela in 2020, said through interpreter Jose Sajour, “It is a privilege to work with somebody like Alan Trammell. Last year I worked with him closely in order to fix my defense. I am so grateful and so lucky to work with a person like him.”
Santana, signed out of the Dominican Republic for a club-record $2.95 million last January, put it this way: “It’s an honor to learn from him but if God allows, I plan to be better than him.”
Woah. Even Sajour was caught off-guard.
“Oooh, OK,” he said. “That’s a little overconfident.”
While Sequera wore a thin gold necklace under his jersey, Santana had a thick, Big Papi-like gold rope around his. Sequera seems calm on the field, more like Trammell was and is — just quietly, assuredly efficient. Santana, on the other hand, seems flashier and flamboyant, more like his and Sequera’s childhood hero — Manny Machado.
“We’ve been together since we met in the Dominican Republic,” Sequera said. “Cristian is very focused and had a good work ethic. In the clubhouse and off the field, he is actually a quiet person. Very focused. He’s just a hard-working guy.”
Raw but real talent
What they have in common is far more important for the Tigers — raw but very real talent. Santana, in the U.S. for the first time in his life, is already rated as the club’s ninth-best prospect by MLB Pipeline. Sequera, who bashed 11 home runs in rookie ball last year, isn’t ranked but probably should be.
To put into perspective how these two players are valued by the Tigers, go back to the amateur draft last July. General manager Al Avila took some heat for by-passing the consensus best shortstop in the draft — California high schooler Marcelo Mayer. Instead he took high school pitcher Jackson Jobe with the third overall pick.
Viewed in the narrow prism of one draft slot, some draft experts saw that as a dubious choice, given the typically high-risk profile of high school pitchers. But Avila knew what he already had in his shortstop closet. He knew he had Sequera and Santana. He knew the projected ceiling for those two players was at least as high as it would be for Mayer.
That thought was validated by their performances last summer.
Santana, 6-0 and solidly built, tore up the Dominican Summer League, posting a .421 on-base average, slugging .521 with a .942 OPS. He made 10 errors in 118 chances with 77 assists at shortstop, but watching him run through the battery of fielding drills at his first minor-league minicamp this week, he clearly has elite hands and feet.
“I have gained more confidence playing here in this minicamp,” Santana said. “It’s different than playing the D.R. Being here, I feel like I am making the right adjustments and getting better.”
Sequera, bigger at 6-2, 206, hit those 11 homers and slugged .509 in 194 plate appearances in the Florida Complex League. He hit three bombs in three straight plate appearances in one game. He made 14 errors, with 99 assists in 155 chances at short. Like Santana, the defense is a work in progress, but the fundamental skills are in place.
“Last year I had kind of a blind spot where I wasn’t reaching the ball, my reach was limited,” Sequera said. “In the offseason in Venezuela, I worked on my reach, my footwork and my set-up. I feel like I am playing up to the level I need to play at.”
Sequera admitted, too, that he had to fight through the anxiety of being in a new country, learning the habits and customs without speaking the language, getting acclimated to the different food. These are things Santana will be dealing with this year.
“I learned to control my anxiety,” Sequera said. “Right now, I am more thoughtful about how I do my work. At the beginning, I was so anxious to show what I can do. Now I am more relaxed. Everything is more quiet.”
While Santana’s bling game may be louder, Sequera displays parts of his heart in vertical tattoos on each side of his neck. The date April 14, 2009, is inked in Roman numerals on the right side, honoring the death of his cousin who died of cancer at age 2. He honors his mother, father, brother and sister on the left side.
Thrown together by virtue of their age, their talent and their status in the organization, a fast friendship has formed between Sequera and Santana — even though they both know they are chasing the same dream.
“Our friendship is pretty good,” Santana said. “We trained together in the Dominican before coming here. By our position and our friendship, we are very close.”
Santana said Sequera and fellow Latin prospects Roberto Campos and Jose De La Cruz — who came to the U.S. last year — have helped him adjust to the food and lifestyle here.
“I still keep the Dominican side of things with beans and rice,” Santana said. “But the way they do chicken here and the salmon, it’s very exciting.”
Sequera, when asked about adjusting to life in the U.S., just shrugged.
“As a person, I didn’t have to change anything,” he said. “I consider myself a reliable person no matter where I am. … Everything had to change, you know. This country has different rules and relationships. But as for the food and the people, I just adapt.”
Unspoken competition
And as for the competition dimension of their relationship, that mostly goes unspoken.
“The competition is there but I don’t want that to show up inside,” Santana said. “I look forward to competing with him.”
Sequera said, “We help each other more than having a competition.”
Of the two, most projections have Santana remaining at shortstop as he ascends through the ranks. Because of his size and power, Sequera is projected to move, maybe to third base.
Though not if he has any say in the matter.
“No, I want to be a shortstop,” he said. “That is something I can control. And if it’s something I can control, I will do it.”
For at least the next two years, the Tigers plan on writing Javy Báez’s name into the lineup most nights at shortstop. He can opt-out of his six-year, $140 million contract after two years. Steady Ryan Kreidler and Zack Short are projected to man the position at Triple A and be call-up ready next season.
But it’s going to be fun watching how quickly Santana and Sequera rise and start nipping at their heels.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky