Carlos Santana is becoming baseball royals-ty…

The 34-year-old Dominican-American professional baseball designated hitter and veteran first baseman and the Kansas City Royals have agreed to a two-year contract worth $17 million, according to ESPN.

Santana’s deal helps plug one of the team’s biggest offensive holes while providing some leadership for a rebuilding club.

Santana was an MLB All-Star two years ago with the Cleveland Indians, when he hit a career-best .281 with 34 homers and 93 RBIs. But he slid to .199 with eight homers and 30 RBIs while playing 60 games during the shortened 2020 season, resulting in the Indians declining his $17.5 million option for the upcoming season.

The Royals were in the middle with a .244 team average last season, but they hit just 68 home runs and were tied with — coincidentally — the Indians for the sixth-worst scoring offense in the majors.

“One of our objectives this offseason was to add a middle-of-the-order bat, someone that would blend in well with our current group, make us a lot better,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said. “Carlos certainly does that.”

Santana should fill both an offensive need and defensive hole for the Royals. They had been toying with the possibility of moving Hunter Dozier to first base, but that would merely create another vacancy at third base and in the outfield, where they already have one to plug following the retirement of left fielder Alex Gordon.

“He was one of the primary targets for us when we began to make offseason plans,” Moore said. “You know, once we began our season, we started talking mid-to-late July [about] players that would potentially fit for us. Carlos’ name was at the forefront of that based on the opportunity that we perceived that would perhaps present itself for us — middle of the order, switch hitter, highly professional. Winning-type player.”

The Royals are quite familiar with Santana from his time in the AL Central. He hit 216 homers with 710 RBIs during 10 seasons with the Indians, and he’s been durable in playing at least 143 games every season but his rookie year and this past season, when he still suited up for every game for Cleveland.

Another bonus? The Royals won’t have him in the other dugout anymore. Santana has hit .288 with 31 homers and 93 RBIs in 151 career games against them, the best of any team in the division.