Tony Santillan Has Been the Workhorse the Reds Needed
Every team needs bullpen arms they can rely on, and Tony Santillan has established himself as that (and more) for the Reds.
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Establishing a role in the Cincinnati Reds bullpen has not come easy for Tony Santillan, who first debuted back in 2021. A starting pitcher coming up through the ranks as a prospect, Santillan moved to the bullpen and bounced between Triple-A Louisville and Cincinnati in the four years prior to this one. Inconsistencies, injuries, and walks have held him back, until this season where he has truly broken out.
Prior to this season Santillan’s career-high in MLB innings was 43.1 as a rookie, which included four starts. He never topped the 30-inning mark until this season where he has already racked up 60 innings across 65 appearances. High-leverage and late-inning situations, Santillan has been someone manager Tony Francona continues to turn to and he’s proven why.
Every team needs a couple of bullpen arms they can rely on and Santillan has established himself as that, and then some. We saw flashes of excellence last season when Santillan struck out 13.8 per nine with a 3.00 ERA, but how he has built off that success has been equally impressive.
There’s also plenty of reason to believe we haven’t seen the best of Santillan just yet. Although he has been great, I see room for improvement and a path to get to an even higher level of success.
Santillan’s Success
If you have followed Santillan’s career, you know he always had the stuff to pitch at this level. The problem was always control and command of his pitches. He’s seemed to find a happy medium where his control is improved even if he has had to take a little off his pitches while still being successful.
Santillan’s bread and butter has been his fastball. Sitting at 96 mph, and running up to 98 mph, the fastball sets up each plan of attack allowing his secondaries to complement the velocity. Although he’s thrown his fastball 64.6%, and batters know it’s coming, they are still hitting only .170 off the pitch.
You might expect Santillan to blow his fastball past everyone, but that’s not really been the case. In fact, his 21% whiff rate on the four seamer is the lowest of any of his offerings. However, better command combined with a slightly better movement profile has helped Santillan to a 2.70 ERA and 3.77 FIP. I actually think there’s more to unlock with this pitch and have hopes for improvement down the line. Working on his movement profile could lead to more swing and miss and a more dangerous arm.
The pitch that has really impressed me has been his slider. He utilizes it against both righties and lefties holding them to a .208 batting average and only one extra-base hit. He doesn’t throw the slider too often due to the fact that he also throws a slurve, but I think leaning into the slider more could yield promising results.
Santillan’s slurve is similar to his slider only coming with more of a break, or drop, to it. At times, these pitches probably get misclassified but regardless, his breaking pitches have been excellent each producing about a 38% whiff rate.
His improved command has allowed Santillan to live in the bottom part of the zone with his breaking pitches starting in the zone and ending outside resulting in less ideal contact and limited damage. This has also helped his fastball play up.
After seeing 86 mph breaking at the bottom of the zone Santillan brings velocity at the top of the zone making it difficult for batters eyes to adjust. Sure, it will lead to loud contact at times, but overall it has been a good recipe.
Filling Big Innings
As much as I liked Santillan, I did not expect him to be leaned on in this way. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad Francona has done so, but for a pitcher to not be established and go from bouncing back and forth from Triple-A to being your preferred set-up man is quite the development.
The pressure has not seemed to effect him, either. In tie games, batters have a .541 OPS off Santillan. In one run games? .595 OPS. The only situation in which batters have over a .615 OPS has been in games where the margin is greater than four runs, which is a small sample size.
Santillan has been assigned the eighth inning and is passing with flying colors. Of his 63 games, 51 have been with him entering in the eighth inning and pitching to a 2.89 ERA with 46 strikeouts in 46 innings. Knowing that you have a guy who you can count on to get the job done late in games to this level has made Francona’s job much easier. Not only holding leads, but not letting deficits grown is crucial.
What has earned the title “workhorse” for Santillan has been his ability to go on little to no rest. Hell, we even saw the Reds turn to him in three straight days in a crucial series. He’s pitched on no rest 21 times, which is more than any other rest scenario. Off no rest, he has a 1.83 ERA, a 3.00 ERA off one day of rest, and 3.97 ERA on two days rest.
Cincinnati has found themselves in close games battling to keep their playoff hopes alive often and Santillan continues to deliver. Serving as the bridge to Emilio Pagan, who’s also been huge for the Reds, has made for a reliable one-two punch that has been a big reason why the Reds are where they are despite having so many holes.
Final Thoughts
Reliable relief pitching isn’t cheap and for a small market team like the Reds you have to develop most of your arms from within. After a promising 30 innings last season, Santillan has established himself has a legit high-leverage arm, checking a box, heading into next year.
I do have my concerns about how he will hold up down the stretch after pitching as much as he has, but he isn’t slowing down just yet. Maybe he’s just one of those pitchers that is built for big work loads. Either way, the Reds would not be where they are without him. Without a doubt, Santillan is one of the unsung MVPs of the Reds season.
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