Matt Santana has returned with a vengeance for Lake Central.
The Tennessee commit couldn’t catch last season, when he was limited to the designated hitter role after suffering a dislocated right shoulder and torn labrum during a travel game in summer 2020.
But as the Indians are putting together another high-level season in 2022, the junior catcher is back where he belongs.
“He’s great,” Lake Central coach Mike Swartzentruber said. “He’s as good a high school catcher as there is as far as blocking balls, calling a game, throwing guys out. It’s nice to know we have a guy like that back there.
“In high school, there’s a lot of cheap runs, a wild pitch or a passed ball, something that doesn’t get blocked, or you can’t control the running game throwing guys out. Those are huge things in high school baseball, and we have a guy back there who can pretty well shut down the other team’s running game, as long as our pitchers give him a chance.”
Santana had surgery in September 2020. He suffered the injury diving back into first base on a pickoff attempt. He was sidelined for six months. He had anticipated being a full go last season.
“The recovery, it was mentally traumatizing,” Santana said. “I basically played at 50%. I was hitting, but not to the ability I know I can perform to. And mentally I was not there at all. It was a pretty rough spring for me, I’ll be honest. It was a struggle.”
Santana hit .288 with 12 RBIs. He said he didn’t get back to 100% throwing until December.
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But in between, he started to turn a corner.
“I made a bounce-back over the summer,” Santana said. “It carried into this spring. I came into this season hot. I fell off a little bit, fell into a little slump midway through the year, but now I’m slowly getting out of it. I know for a fact I’ll be ready by sectionals.”
After Lake Central (19-5, 12-2), ranked No. 8 in the Class 4A state coaches poll, wrapped up its second straight Duneland Athletic Conference title with an 11-0 win in six innings at Portage on Thursday, Santana was hitting .333 with two homers, 18 RBIs, a team-high 31 runs scored and six stolen bases.
In that game, he demonstrated the various ways he contributes. He walked and stole a base. Hit a sacrifice fly with two strikes. He threw out a base runner.
Santana took over the leadoff spot early in the season after hitting second. Swartzentruber also noted Santana has been hit by a pitch 13 times.
“I know he’s frustrated a little bit,” Swartzentruber said. “He hasn’t gotten as many hits the last few weeks, but he’s still doing what we have him there to do. He’s getting on base a ton.
“He can handle the bat. He’s still doing the job. The hits will come.”
Santana committed to Tennessee in October 2019, making the call while playing in a tournament in Florida. Even though he was just a freshman, he was confident in his choice.
“It was a dream school growing up,” Santana said. “I loved watching them play. I love Tennessee — it’s beautiful. It’s God’s country down there. My family loves it. They’re going to get a cabin down there soon so they can watch me play. It was just a dream school and a dream come true.”
With a team he described as having “talent on talent on talent,” Santana also dreams about helping Lake Central embark on a long postseason run, beginning Thursday with a game against Morton in the Highland Sectional. A potential matchup against rival Munster looms in the next round. A streak of three straight sectional titles ended last season with a 2-1 walk-off loss to the Mustangs in a championship game.
Entering high school, Santana had considered attending Marian Catholic in Chicago Heights, Illinois, before opting to stay home.
“I was going to, but I changed my mind,” he said. “I love coach (Tony) DeCarlo over there. He’s a great dude. I knew that I didn’t need to drive 45 minutes to school every day to play in the Catholic league because I noticed the talent around here is pretty intense. So I decided to stick with my buddies and stick with my heart, and I want to bring a state championship to Lake Central.”