MINNEAPOLIS — The Twins recognized Guardians’ first baseman Carlos Santana before Monday’s series opener at Target Field as the Gold Glove Award winner for the American League in 2024.

Santana officially received the award during a pregame ceremony April 26 in Cleveland, but Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said it would be special to watch Santana be honored with the award for a second time by the team that he won it with last season.

“He’s been working hard for that for a lot of years,” Vogt said. “It’s just a testament to his hard work, sticking with it, continuing to drive to be a great defender and he still continues to do that for us today.”

Santana, who started his career at catcher and moved to third base before finding a home at first, was a 2017 finalist for the award with Cleveland.

In his one season with the Twins, he led American League first basemen with eight defensive runs saved and became the oldest position player in MLB history to win the award for the first time in his career.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli called it a “travesty” that Santana’s Gold Glove was only the first of his career, calling the 39-year-old Dominican native a “dynamic defensive player” who moves like a cat.

“His instincts are just on point all the time,” Baldelli said. “He works incredibly hard at his defense.”

Baldelli recalled watching Santana work during spring training in Fort Myers during February of 2024.

“He’s in there literally sweating it out, taking balls off of a mini machine, like a guy that is in High-A trying to win a spot on the team,” Baldelli said. “That’s how he works and that’s how he prepares. And he’s done it for his entire career. He’s a winning player, and one of the best first basemen I’ve ever seen.”