For the first time in 15 years as a Major League baseball player, Ervin Santana spent a season at his home in Clearwater, Fla., in 2020. After becoming a free agent in 2019, no team picked the longtime pitcher up for the following season -- not before Spring Training, not before Summer Camp and not throughout the 60-game campaign.

It was hard to adjust, Santana admitted. But he never stopped working. Even at 38 years old, he wasn’t ready to be done.

“It was a little bit difficult with what happened,” Santana said after the Royals’ 3-2 win over the Rangers in Sunday's Cactus League opener. “But I spent my time practicing every day. I never stopped practicing. And then when everything cleared out, I went to the Dominican Republic and pitched in winter ball.”

When Santana threw in a live game again, he drew interest from the Royals, a team he played with in 2013. They noticed he was healthy, his velocity was up and his pitches held up against opposing hitters. In five games (20 2/3 innings) with the Tigres del Licey, Santana posted a 2.61 ERA, striking out 25 and allowing just one home run.

It was good enough to land him a Minor League contract with an invite to Spring Training. Now he’s hoping to prove himself even more and land an Opening Day roster spot with Kansas City.

“I felt great,” Santana said of his winter season. “We had a good time, and the good thing is I proved myself and pitched [well].”

Santana’s first step to making the Royals’ rotation came Sunday, when he made his spring debut in the Cactus League opener. The right-hander allowed two runs -- on a monster home run from Rangers right fielder Joey Gallo -- in two innings, with one walk and one strikeout. The Royals have been pleased with what Santana has shown so far this spring, especially after a year completely out of the Major Leagues and two limited seasons prior to that due to injury.

“You take time off, you never know exactly how that’s going to translate, but what we were getting was the velocity was right, he was making pitches, he was spinning the ball well,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “Obviously a pitcher like Ervin’s been here before. People understand the kind of makeup that he has, that he can make this team better, too. You take those components and it works out to a great opportunity to come in and prove it.

“The thing that really stands out to me is how well he’s tunneling everything. Every single pitch out of his hand looks the exact same. That’s a guy who’s mastered his craft, and he’s just been impressive so far.”

The Royals are ecstatic about their young pitchers who have just arrived in the big leagues or are on the verge of arriving. But because of the shortened big league season and cancelled Minor League season last year, the Royals will be cautious with their young pitchers’ workloads in a full 162-game season.

That opens the door for veteran arms -- and particularly arms who can be counted on for innings. That’s where Santana could come in, especially early in the season. If he continues to impress in Spring Training, he could eat some important innings for the Royals' pitching staff.

On Sunday, Santana said the last time he felt this good was in 2017, before a finger injury on his right hand derailed his 2018-19 seasons.

He was an All-Star for the Twins in 2017.

“I think we’ve been pretty clear that we need some guys that we can count on,” Matheny said early in camp. “Through the long haul of 162, plus the postseason, we’re going to need horses, there’s no doubt. … We’ve got a long of young pitchers, we got some very talented pitchers, and we believe that we’re going to be able to give guys opportunities. And they’ll figure it out, and we’re going to help them figure it out. But in the meantime, we’re going to need some guys that we can depend on to go out there and pitch.”