PEORIA Bob Feller Jersey , Ariz. (AP) — and he likes what he sees with the suddenly dynamic San Diego Padres.Hosmer arrived at spring training last year after signing a $144 million, eight-year contract as a free agent. The buzz generated by his signing didn’t last long as he struggled in his first season with the Padres, who lost 96 games and finished last in the NL West.Now the first baseman is energized by being around new teammate Manny Machado, who last week signed a $300 million, 10-year contract, and top prospect Fernando Tatis Jr., who is expected to make his big league debut at some point in 2019.Hosmer’s deal had been the biggest in team history until Machado signed the biggest deal for any free agent.“It’s a tremendous leap for this organization,” Hosmer said. “It shows everybody what we are all about. It’s something we aren’t trying to preach or talk about. They went out, signed a player and got a guy that’s going to help us win a championship one day.”Last spring training http://www.indiansfanproshop.com/authentic-b.j.-upton-jersey , Hosmer had to get acquainted with new teammates and a new league. He signed his deal shortly after pitchers and catchers reported to camp. He said he didn’t get an offer from a team until mid-January and made sure he was making the right decision before deciding on San Diego.“I didn’t know much about the organization until I did my homework when I was a free agent,” he said. “Just reading about all the talent and getting to see all of that. Especially this year, with these guys getting to see what Tatis did in the winter, what Franmil (Reyes) did over here last year, there’s a lot of upside where this organization is going.”Hosmer was able to shift his priories this offseason to getting his mind and body ready for baseball.“It’s definitely a different vibe for me to walk in here and be able to know a lot of the faces,” he said. “I just got to focus on baseball all offseason and that was probably the best part about it. I didn’t have to be a lawyer or agent this offseason. I can just worry about training and getting my body into the position and place it needs to be to take on 162 games and I feel like I did a really good job with that.”Hosmer hit only.253 last year, down 65 points. His 18 homers, 65 RBIs and .322 on-base percentage were his lowest in four seasons. He struck out a career-high 142 times.“I don’t really know what happened. It didn’t go the way I planned,” Hosmer said. “There’s really no excuse for that. It came down to not performing the way I wanted to perform. I took that very seriously this offseason and got everything going.”Once again Joe Carter Jersey , there’s a buzz in Padres camp.“I think we are at a point in time now where everybody knows we want to win and we are serious about it,” Hosmer said. “It’s not just talking. It’s not us trying to sell you guys something. It’s actions and going out and doing something.” A look at Carlos Santana’s impressive exit velocity early in the season"One of the best things about Statcast is that it gives us something worthwhile to talk about in the first week of the season. Wins and losses are just as important now as they are in September, but most individual player stats are worthless. You can’t tell much from the single statistic of hit or even a home run besides the fact that they probably hit the ball pretty well. The discussion starts and stops with “this thing happened” in each of those instances. Exit velocity is a whole different monster. Exit velocity is something that you can use on a case-by-case basis on its own to see what a player is doing — we can say without a shadow of a doubt that Carlos Santana has hit the ball really dang hard in his first few games. He might not for the whole season, but that’s okay. It’s more than just “he hit it,” instead it now becomes “did you see this fuckin guy hit a baseball 112.8 miles per hour, then follow that up with 108.3 miles per hour? Cripes!” I guess what I’m trying to say is: Our boy is back. Carlos Santana has made no secret about the fact he loves Cleveland, and is thrilled to be back with the Indians. Call it playing up the fans if you want, but at this year’s fan fest he told eager Tribe fans, “Last year I missed you guys. Right now http://www.indiansfanproshop.com/authentic-b.j.-upton-jersey , I’m so excited to be back to my natural home.” He had some equally rosy comments leading up to his free agency in 2017. Even after today’s game, where the Indians lost in devastating fashion to the lowly Chicago White Sox, Santana’s bat came through as one of the few bright spots. He told reporters after the game he’s enjoying the game of baseball, when he wasn’t before. He attributes his hot start to feeling comfortable in both body and mind. How do you not love him? Through the Indians’ first five games, Carlos Santana’s bat has been the lone light in the darkness for the Francisco Lindorless Tribe (Hanley Ramirez and his pair of home runs is a distant second). Sample sizes are still extremely small right now, which means it’s easy to do something like take a blanket look at how Carlos has hit every ball that he’s made contact with. So let’s do that. March 2899.8 mph flyout vs. Jose Berrios95.2 mph flyout vs. Jose BerriosMarch 30111.8 mph single vs. Blake Parker88.2 mph flyout vs. Trevor May76.5 mph pop out vs. Jake Odorizzi83.9 mph groundout vs. Jake OdorizziMarch 31112.8 mph double vs. Martin Perez108.3 mph single vs. Martin Perez99.9 mph single vs. Martin Perez102.6 mph single vs. Michael PinedaApril 1106.4 mph single vs. Ivan Nova79.0 mph GIDP vs. Ivan NovaApril 3110.1 mph single vs. Nate Jones99.4 mph groundout vs. Carlos Rodon81.3 mph flyout vs. Carlos Rodon84.7 mph single vs. Carlos RodonGo ahead and file that under “not bad.”In the March 31 game — a loss to the Twins — Santana held the mark for the four hardest-hit balls among Indians batters. That speaks to be how bad the Indians lineup is, sure, but it also shows the kind of great contact that Slamtana is making now that he’s back where he feels the most comfortable. Entering play today, Santana ranked sixth in average exit velocity at 97 miles per hour Corey Kluber Jersey , and fifth in hard hit percentage at 66.7 percent.Similar to the dearly departed Yandy Diaz, though, Santana’s launch angle could use a boost as it sits at 10.2 heading into today (and his .500 batting average on balls in play probably isn’t going to stand forever).still, for this one fun little metric, in the silliest time of the year, Carlos Santana is doing something really, really well. Let’s enjoy that for a minute.