Article: Sergio Santos, Wipe Out Sliders (And Injuries)

[Mac]

It was a question Sergio Santos had been asked before.

Scuffling in his seventh professional season as an infielder, Santos won a bet with his Twins’ minor league teammates by hitting 97 on the radar gun. Minnesota asked him to try the mound for real, but Santos had dreamed of his first major league hit since childhood. Just as when Toronto had asked him to make the switch a few years before, Santos said no, and he was released at the end of the season.

Santos had intrigued the Blue Jays’ development staff when he arrived via JP Riccardi in the Troy Glaus trade with Arizona in the winter of 2005. A first-round pick out of high school as a shortstop, Santos moved quickly through the D-Backs system but struggled in his first stop at Triple-A the season before the trade. Toronto thought the strong-armed, 6-foot-3 Santos could be better suited for third base or, eventually, pitching, but when the bat didn’t perform and unwilling to pitch, Santos was an early spring cut in 2008.

After the season with the Twins, Santos tried to catch on with the White Sox in 2009 but was again confronted with the same proposition. Asking for one more opportunity, Santos was traded, but he promised to come back and try pitching if he failed to make the Giants. Ten days later, Santos returned to the White Sox and began what would finally be his way into the major leagues. He pitched in four levels in 2009 and would make Chicago’s Opening Day roster the next season.

After a successful debut season on the mound (2.96 ERA in 56 games), Santos would save 30 games for the White Sox in 2011, inking a three-year, $8.25 million extension as the season came to a close. A nasty slider accompanied his high-90s fastball, which was deemed the best strikeout pitch in baseball at the end of the season by ESPN Stats and Info. This made him the perfect under-the-radar target for Alex Anthopoulos, who wooed Kenny Williams with top pitching prospect Nestor Molina and made a trade that surprised baseball’s winter meetings.

Molina had a live arm but only threw two pitches with consistency and never reached the majors. (photo credit Meridiano)

Installed immediately as Toronto’s closer, Santos debuted to record the final two outs in Toronto’s marathon opener in Cleveland. He blew his first save opportunity two days later, leaving a fastball up to Asdrubal Cabrera with a one-run lead in the ninth. Two days later, things got rockier. Henderson Alvarez, the youngest Blue Jay to start a home opener, pitched six innings of one-run ball, leading up to Santos’ entrance in the ninth with a 2-1 lead.

Santos’s command was nowhere to be found. Dustin Pedroia hit another sloppy fastball for a double to lead off the inning and would score the tying run on a sacrifice fly. Santos struck out the next batter but issued back-to-back walks to extend the inning. After a base hit gave Boston the lead, Santos yielded another run on a wild pitch. That was it for Santos, who departed to rousing boos from a sold out crowd in his home debut, a 4-2 loss.

Santos recorded his first save as a Blue Jay in the series finale after a pitching duel between lefties Ricky Romero and Jon Lester. Romero remained in for the ninth inning with Toronto leading 3-1, but walked the first two batters. They were in scoring position when Santos entered with one out and working off his slider, struck out Kevin Youkilis before ending the game with a David Ortiz groundout. Santos was able to enjoy a different reaction after the final out from the crowd, who were able to redirect their ire towards Joffrey Lupul.

Santos heard the jeering from the bullpen, “Rough, huh?” he laughed afterwards.

Santos pitched twice more before being placed on the injured list with shoulder inflammation. The initial prognosis was a few weeks of rest, but weeks turned into months as Santos suffered setbacks trying to get back on the mound, and the timetable for his return vanished. His season was officially wiped out near the All-Star break when the pitcher elected to undergo surgery on his shoulder.

In Santos’ absence, the Blue Jays initially turned to Francisco Cordero, but ninth-inning duties were eventually taken over by Casey Janssen. With 22 saves and a 2.54 ERA, Janssen was named the closer by new-ish manager John Gibbons as the team reported for spring training in 2013. The good news for Santos was that his velocity was back, and the shoulder discomfort was gone. Unfortunately, that would not last for long.

Santos dealt with tricep soreness during spring training, and after appearing in five games, the issue landed him on the injured list. An MRI revealed a strain and bone chips, requiring another surgery that sidelined Santos until August. Upon his return, Santos was excellent, keeping opponents to a lowly .131 average for the rest of the season. In September, the moment he had been waiting for would finally happen.

Playing in Arizona, Santos came on in the seventh inning and got Eric Chavez to hit into an inning-ending double play to keep Toronto in front 2-0. Due up second in the next inning, John Gibbons let Santos make the walk to the batter’s box. Facing Brandon McCarthy, Santos grounded out to Chavez on the second pitch of the at-bat. Steve Delabar would pitch the eighth, and Gibbons’ gesture led to Santos's only major league plate appearance.

In 25+ innings in 2013, Santos’ command had been locked in, but the injury concerns weren’t going away, and Anthopoulos tried to sell high in the off-season. Toronto had discussed deals involving Santos with Texas and with Oakland for Brett Anderson. While a deal for Ian Kinsler never gained traction, a three-way trade with the Rangers and A’s was reportedly reached that sent Santos to Texas with Anderson heading to Toronto before the trade was nixed when Anderson failed a physical.

With Janssen injured to open the 2014 season, Santos resumed closing duties and struck out three Rays in the ninth to secure the save on April 1. Santos secured saves in four of his first five appearances, striking out ten of 19 batters faced. Things came unglued when the Blue Jays visited a chilly Minneapolis for a series against the Twins. The teams played a doubleheader after postponing the previous night's game. After clearing inches of snow off Target Field overnight, Kyle Gibson threw the first pitch in sub-zero temperatures, the coldest game in Twins history at 31°F.

Santos entered the second game in the eighth inning with the Jays up 5-3 but in a frigid pickle with two runners on and one away. After a walk to load the bases, Santos uncorked a wild pitch facing Kurt Suzuki, allowing a run to score. Santos spiked a pitch four pitches later to walk Suzuki, allowing another run to plate when the ball eluded Dioner Navarro. Another batter led to another run-scoring wild pitch, and the at-bat ended again with a walk. Santos delivered only four strikes in 16 pitches; the photo says more than I could.

Santos, Delabar, and J.A. Happ issued EIGHT walks in the inning. Minnesota scored six for the 9-5 win. (photo credit Brian Blanco/SBNation)

A road trip at the end of the month would ultimately spell the end for Santos as a Blue Jay. He was charged with three earned runs in a disastrous eighth inning appearance in Kansas City, and his next appearance came in Pittsburgh a few days later. Santos entered in the ninth with a two-run lead, but after a lead-off hit, he gave up the game-tying home run to Pedro Álvarez before Starling Marte walked it off two batters later. It was the final save opportunity for Santos as a Blue Jay, as he was removed from the closer role the next day and hid on the injured list a while later.

Santos’ command never returned. He rejoined the Blue Jays in June, walked hitters in five of his ten appearances, and was designated for assignment. Toronto hoped Santos would figure it out in the minors, and they got their wish when Santos cleared waivers and pitched scoreless baseball in 10+ innings in Triple-A Buffalo. Despite thinking he should have been called up sooner, Santos was back in the majors, but it would be brief. He surrendered the game-winning base hit to Evan Longoria in the 10th inning of a 2-1 loss to Tampa, and two days later, he gave up two home runs in extras against Boston, including this monstrosity to Mike Napoli:

That was the final appearance for Santos as a Jay. He was designated for assignment again and did not report to Double-A; Toronto would decline the options on his contract, leaving Santos a free agent. He pitched for the Dodgers and Yankees the following year before Tommy John surgery ended his career. Santos is still working his way back to the major leagues. Back with the White Sox organization, Santos managed in Double-A last season and is now the manager for Triple-A Charlotte. I don’t know Sergio, if Chris Getz offers to call you up, you might want to pull a page from Lou Brown.

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[Stangstag]

Santos seems like such a good dude, too bad he couldn’t be our weapon during the playoff runs