Santillan trying to show he belongs in Majors

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Reds pitching prospect Tony Santillan isn’t expected to be part of the 2019 rotation, but his time is clearly coming soon. Santillan, ranked as the organization’s No. 5 prospect by MLB Pipeline, made his second appearance and first big league start of camp on Thursday.

During a 10-8 loss to the Brewers at Goodyear Ballpark, Santillan pitched 1 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run and one hit with one walk. Beginning the top of the second, the right-hander allowed a first-pitch homer to right-center field by Mike Moustakas.

“You try to get your work in at spring but at the same time try to show you belong here,” Santillan said.

Listed at 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds, Santillan was a second-round pick by Cincinnati in the 2015 MLB Draft. He initially struggled with command and control over his first couple of pro seasons but began to put it together in '17. Then he followed with a superlative ’18 season, split between Class A Advanced Daytona and Double-A Pensacola.

In 26 combined starts, Santillan was 10-7 with a 3.08 ERA, 38 walks and 134 strikeouts over 149 innings. Scouts believe he can be a front-line starter. He has a well above-average fastball that stays consistently at 93-97 mph with good movement and he’s improved his changeup and overall control.

“Because I’m developing as a pitcher, you find out what works and what doesn’t work for you,” Santillan said. “We have a good staff that kind of puts you on the right track to succeed.”

In his first big league camp, the 21-year-old Santillan is projected for a big league debut sometime in 2020. He’s getting a sense of what he needs to do to move upward.

“You sit back and kind of listen to the older guys and take stuff in,” Santillan said. “Whatever happens, I will just take that with me and try to build off of it and make my way up the ladder.”

Reds feeling shifty

During the first two at-bats for Brewers catcher and lefty hitter Yasmani Grandal on Thursday, the Reds utilized a unique shift. Third baseman Eugenio Suarez was positioned behind second base and shortstop Jose Peraza was stationed in left field as a fourth outfielder.

Both times against Santillan, Grandal grounded directly to Suarez for routine outs.

“[Grandal] is a guy we’re all pretty familiar with,” Reds manager David Bell said. “It comes back to just playing where we feel we have the best chance to get an out. … we’re just trying to put ourselves in positions to get outs.”

It was the first time Santillan ever pitched with the entire left side of his infield missing.

“You’re still pitching. You’re still trying to get the guy out,” Santillan said. “You’re working with what you’ve got out there. Just play with it and let him into it to get a free out.”

Bell not fully focused on spring stats

As he evaluates players, Bell isn’t as concerned about their Cactus League statistics.

“I think we all look at results, [they] are part of the game. Hopefully, I try to watch closer than that because it is such a small sample,” Bell said. “You really do trust the track record. There are things that can be eye-opening in Spring Training too.”

Especially with the increased use of analytics and data-tracking technology this spring, the club can evaluate players positively even if their stats aren’t strong.

“You’re able to look at the process-based results a little bit more than just the box score. That is helpful,” Bell said.

Worth noting

The average age of Bell and his coaching staff this season is 42.4 years old. Entering last season under former manager Bryan Price, the average age of the staff was 54.1 years old.

The Reds hired Nate Irving to be their new bullpen catcher this season. Irving, who replaced Dustin Hughes, began working on Thursday and caught Sonny Gray's bullpen session.

Up next

In their first night game of spring, the Reds will travel to Scottsdale Friday for a 9:05 ET game vs. the Giants. Nick Senzel and Jesse Winker are expected to play, while Tyler Mahle is scheduled to start.