Earlier this month, the Braves signed reliever Enil de los Santos According to his trade log on MLB.com, he struck a minor league deal. The White Sox did not tender the right-hander earlier this offseason.
De Los Santos spent his first three seasons in the MLB with the Phillies and Pirates before joining the Guardians in 2022. The pitching ERA was 3.04 and the SIERA was 2.98. He earned his first career save that summer and made his playoff debut that fall. The right-hander took on a more prominent role in the Cleveland bullpen the following season, pitching in 70 games (65 2/3 innings) and often moving into higher-leverage positions than the year before. His strikeout rate went down, his walk rate went up, and his overall numbers weren’t that impressive (3.29 ERA, 4.06 SIERA). Still, it was a solid season and another step toward becoming a reliable reliever for De Los Santos.
In the 2023-24 offseason, the Guardians traded de los Santos to the Padres in exchange for Scott Barlow. This is a somewhat surprising move for the Guardians, who typically trade older pitchers with expiring contracts for younger, cheaper players rather than the other way around. Ultimately, neither party succeeded in the deal. Cleveland fired Barlow in September when he struggled in the second half. De los Santos, meanwhile, ended up playing for three different teams and struggled in various ways on each team. After a disappointing start with the Padres, he found himself headed to the Yankees at the trade deadline. New York designated him for assignment a few weeks later, and he finished the season with the White Sox. Overall, he posted a 5.20 ERA in 64 innings, although his 3.86 SIERA looked more promising.
There’s no doubt that 2024 is going to be a tough year for de los Santos. However, there’s still a lot to like about his arm. On the one hand, he is young; He turns 29 tomorrow, Christmas Day. Moreover, he has never been on the injured list. As for his performance, starting in the 2022-23 season, he pitched 119 innings with a 3.18 ERA and 3.57 SIERA. This kind of performance in the middle innings will improve the bullpen for every team participating. More importantly, De Los Santos had strong underlying numbers in his first 44 games in San Diego before being traded. His strikeout and walk rates rose to 2022 levels, and his mediocre 4.46 ERA was a full point higher than his outstanding 3.21 SIERA. His numbers turned ugly after the trade deadline, but that was a relatively small sample size. There’s little reason to worry that the version of De Los Santos who could have been a durable, high-strikeout pitcher is gone forever.
So the Braves bet on that advantage, signing De Los Santos to a minor league deal and potentially inviting the righty to major league training camp. Atlanta has one of the league’s best bullpens in 2024, but there are still some backfield spots up for grabs this spring.
