The Mets pulled a fast one on everyone as soon as the lockout ended. In November, the Mets claimed Antonio Santos after he was put on waivers by the Rockies and he was added to the Mets 40-man roster. Somehow right after the lockout ended, the Mets slipped him back through waivers. No other teams put a claim on his contract and he ended up off of the Mets 40-man roster.
Now, officially a Mets minor leaguer, he was given a non-roster invitation to Spring Training, so here we are.
Antonio was signed by the Rockies in 2015 and made his major league debut during the 2020 season. Between 2020 and 2021, Santos has pitched in 10 games, starting 1, totaling 17.1 innings with a 8.83 ERA, 4.97 FIP, and a 1.846 WHIP. In the minors he was used pretty much as a starter through the year 2019. He became a reliever during the pandemic and pretty much only pitched relief last year. In triple A, he posted a 7.94 ERA over 34 games and 45.1 innings. He had a successful winter for Licey where he posted a 1.00 ERA over 9 games and 9.0 innings of work.
According to MLB Savant, he has 5 pitches: mid 90’s fastball, high 70’s curveball, mid 80’s changeup, low to mid 80’s slider, and a mid 90’s sinker. In his two cups of coffee at the major league level he used his fastball about 50% of the time.
Repeating what we’ve said a lot this week – the Mets need pitchers. Between injuries last year and trades from the last few seasons, the Mets have lost quite a bit of pitching depth. Santos is part of the rebuilding of depth this year. The Mets will be taking looks at everyone on the depth chart this year as the Mets get ready to kick off their 2022 campaign.
