Edgar Santana

WTM’s PLAYER PROFILE

2014
DSL:  1-3-2, 3.72 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 19.1 IP, 1.4 BB/9, 5.1 K/9

Santana pitched in relief in his debut.  He showed very good control, but opponents batted .342 against him.

2015
A-:  1-0-3, 2.70 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 30.0 IP, 1.5 BB/9, 9.6 K/9
A:  0-0-1, 4.38 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 12.1 IP, 2.9 BB/9, 11.7 K/9

Probably because he was old for a Dominican prospect just reaching the US, the Pirates assigned Santana to Morgantown.  He pitched very well there, striking out over a batter an inning and holding hitters to a .219 average, while walking few batters.  The Pirates were impressed enough that they moved Santana up to the West Virginia Power in early August.  He continued to pitch well there, with a higher K rate, but he did have some gopher ball problems, allowing three in just over a dozen innings.  He had no real platoon split between the two levels.

2016
A+:  2-0-0, 0.81 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, 22.1 IP, 0.8 BB/9, 8.1 K/9
AA:  2-1-2, 2.83 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 41.1 IP, 2.4 BB/9, 8.5 K/9
AAA:  0-0-1, 5.06 ERA, 1.75 WHIP, 16.0 IP, 3.4 BB/9, 6.8 K/9

Santana continued his rapid rise through the Pirates’ system.  He started off at Bradenton, but after nine dominant outings the Pirates promoted him to Altoona.  He pitched well there through 21 games and they promoted him to Indianapolis.  He had a good deal more trouble in AAA.  He didn’t strike out huge numbers of hitters at the two lower levels, but his K rates were comfortably above the league averages, which were 7.6 K/9 in both cases.  He was helped by low BABIPs, .220 at Bradenton and .264 at Altoona.  Conversely, in AAA he suffered from a very high BABIP of .382.  His FIP, oddly enough, was slightly better in AAA than AA, 3.61 to 3.67.  He was a very strong groundball pitcher throughout.  On the season as a whole, Santana dominated left-handed hitters, holding them to a .469 OPS.  Right-handed hitters had a .691 OPS against him.

2017
AAA:  1-3-8, 2.79 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 58.0 IP, 1.9 BB/9, 8.4 K/9
MLB:  0-0-0, 3.50 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 18.0 IP, 6.0 BB/9, 10.0 K/9

Santana pitched very well early in the season at Indianapolis, with a 1.55 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in April and May.  The Pirates called him up in June and he scuffled a little in nine outings, giving up five walks and five earned runs in seven and two-thirds innings.  When he went back to AAA in early July, he struggled for a while, with a 4.61 ERA and 1.90 WHIP over the remainder of the month.  With the exception of one outing in August, Santana stayed in AAA until Indianapolis was out of the playoffs, and then moved up to Pittsburgh.  He had nine scoreless outings over the rest of September, although he had control problems.

2018
MLB:  3-4-0, 3.26 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 66.1 IP, 1.6 BB/9, 7.3 K/9

Santana stayed with the Pirates all year, appearing in 69 games.  They used him mostly to pitch the seventh inning, but sometimes in the sixth and eighth.  He didn’t get off to a great start, with a 4.50 ERA, but the Pirates stuck with him and he was outstanding in July and August, with a 0.66 ERA.  He had a rough month in September, with two bad games that inflated his ERA from 2.42 to 3.26.  Unfortunately, his season ended when he hurt his elbow on a pitch in September 21.  He had Tommy John surgery almost immediately afterward.  For the season he showed very good control, but didn’t miss as many bats as you’d expect.  He had only a limited platoon split.

2019
INJURED

Santana missed the season after the surgery.

2020
SUSPENDED

Santana looked good in spring training, before the sport was shut down.  When rosters came out for the shortened season, though, he was suspended for 80 days due to a positive test for a performance-enhancing drug.  He’ll miss all of the 2020 season and part of 2021.

Santana got himself established as a key reliever for the Pirates, so the injury and suspension were disappointing.  He appeared to be nearly ready in spring 2020 and the Pirates certainly need help in the bullpen.  He has two options left.