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Report: Indians’ Carlos Santana smashed TV over Fortnite during lone season with Phillies

Reportedly, Cleveland Indians first baseman Carlos Santana took exception to teammates playing Fortnite during games in his lone season with the Philadelphia Phillies.

CLEVELAND — Cleveland Indians first baseman Carlos Santana is not a fan of the online video game, Fortnite, at least not when he is on the job.

Apparently, Fortnite had the attention of several younger teammates in the clubhouse during his lone season with the Philadelphia Phillies. That did not sit well with Santana and he made quite the statement by grabbing a bat, going to the room at Citizens Bank Park where the games were being played and smashed the television “to ensure there would be no more ‘Fortnite’ the final two days of the season.”

Already eliminated from the postseason, the Phillies suffered a 10-2 loss to the National League East Division Champion Atlanta Braves, and when Santana learned of the video games being played during the game, he took action.

Nearly six months later, Santana still does not regret the statement he made.

“I see a couple players -- I don’t want to say names -- they play video games during the game,” Santana told ESPN’s Jeff Passan. “We come and lose too many games, and I feel like they weren’t worried about it, weren’t respecting their teammates or coaches or the staff or the [front] office. It’s not my personality, but I’m angry because I want to make it good.

“I don’t know what happened, but I’ve never seen that in my life. During the game, playing video games, it’s not professional. Each team is everybody all together. I understand we’re eliminated for the season, but you have to have pride.”

Credit: Ross D. Franklin
Cleveland Indians first baseman Carlos Santana tosses a baseball to a pitcher during the fourth inning of a spring-training game against the Cincinnati Reds at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Arizona on Monday, March 11, 2019.

Following the 2018 season, Santana was traded twice within a week, first from the Phillies to the Seattle Mariners, and then, returned to the Indians organization in exchange for designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion in mid-December.

With the Indians for their run to the World Series in 2016, Santana hit .259 with 151 hits in 582 at-bats with 89 runs scored, 87 RBI, 31 doubles, three triples and 34 home runs with 99 walks against 99 strikeouts. Additionally, Santana had .366 on-base and .498 slugging percentages.

During the 2017 season, Santana hit .259 with 23 home runs, 37 doubles, 79 runs batted in, another 90 scored and 148 hits over 154 games. Additionally, Santana struck out 94 times, but worked his way to 88 walks.

Credit: Ross D. Franklin
Cleveland Indians first baseman Carlos Santana fields a ground ball during infield drills at the team's spring-training baseball facility in Goodyear, Arizona on Monday, February 18, 2019.

In his eight years with the Indians, Santana had a .249 batting average with 995 hits in 3,994 at-bats over 1,116 regular-season games. He belted 236 doubles, 13 triples and 174 home runs, drove in 587 runs, scored another 573 and drew 726 walks against 812 strikeouts.

In 21 playoff appearances with the Indians, Santana had two doubles, four home runs, eight RBI, eight runs scored and 11 walks against 16 strikeouts.

During his lone season with the Phillies, Santana had 128 hits in 560 at-bats (.229 batting average) with 28 doubles, two triples, 24 home runs, 82 runs scored, 86 RBI and 110 walks against only 93 strikeouts, as well as .352 on-base, .414 slugging and .766 on-base-plus-slugging percentages.

And one smashed TV over Fortnite.

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