Yankees Begin Free Agency by Signing Reliever

After taking a closer look at his player profile, pitch mix, and statistics, De Los Santos may draw parallels to one of his Yankee teammates, who is currently one of the best relievers on the team. As such, the team is banking on pitching coach Matt Blake to develop their new pitcher into something similar.

De Los Santos will be entering his third season in MLB, spending his first two with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He currently has a 1-4 career record and a 4.14 career ERA. His command leaves something to be desired, as he has 24 career walks and 44 career strikeouts.

What has intrigued the Yankees and their fans about him, however, is his pitch mix. De Los Santos primarily throws a sinker, with an occasional slider and changeup. 

Last season, the right-hander made 22 appearances and showed some intriguing upside. His 3.33 ERA and 4.04 FIP may not have been particularly head-turning, but what was an attention grabber was his ground-ball rate. Thanks to his sinker, De Los Santos induced a ground ball against 54.9% of the batters he’s faced, which indicates that he can be an excellent pitch-to-contact type pitcher, especially if a strong defensive infield is behind him.

With this player profile, it’s not surprising that the Yankees took a flyer on De Los Santos, given their reputation of developing strong relief pitchers. In fact, right down to the previous team (Pirates), this seems like a similar scenario as one of Matt Blake’s biggest successes as pitching coach: the development of Clay Holmes.

When the Yankees acquired Holmes in 2021, he had a nasty sinker that was excellent at inducing ground balls and soft contact, but struggled with walking batters, a profile that matches De Los Santos’s current profile. With some adjustments to his pitching mechanics, Holmes developed into one of the Yankees’ best and most trusted receivers, with a knack for escaping difficult situations with a single pitch. 

However, Holmes and fellow sinkerballer Jonathan Loaisiga are entering free agency after the 2024 season, which is another key reason why the Yankees are banking on the development of their newest acquisition. 

Overall, this is a sneaky good signing for the Yankees, as De Los Santos likely won’t cost much, and given the bullpen’s track record of developing quality arms, there may be a much higher reward than what is currently present. 

Needless to say, the Yankees are also looking into much larger profile free agents, most notably Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Cody Bellinger. With their first move out of the way, they can now hunt for the bigger fish in the pond.