The Cincinnati Reds picked up right handed pitcher Tony Santillan in the 2nd round of the 2015 Major League Baseball Draft. He agreed to terms of a contract with the Reds a few weeks later, signing for $1,350,000. That deal was above the slot value recommendation of the pick, which was $1,227,800.
After signing his contract he didn’t pitch for two weeks before making his professional debut on July 13th for the Arizona League Reds, pitching 1.1 innings out of the bullpen with a walk and a strikeout.
On Sunday night he would take the mound again for the Reds, this time starting the game. He was still being held to a relatively low pitch limit, Santillan tossed two shutout innings with a hit and a walk. That gives him 3.1 shutout innings to start his career with two walks and a strikeout.
Reports on the righty coming out of the draft were that he struggled with control, but had a strong fastball and slider when he could throw them for strikes. In his most recent outing Bill Mitchell was at the game. Mitchell is a photographer by trade, but also contributes reports to Baseball America (or at least has in past years).
He only had one tweet about the game on Sunday, but it was about Santillan.
Antonio Santillan throws 2 scoreless inn in 2nd pro outing for AZL #Reds. FB 91-94, SL 83-84.
— Bill Mitchell (@billazbbphotog) July 20, 2015
The fastball velocity wasn’t quite where it was while he was in the spring, but it wasn’t down by much (he sat 93-95 in the spring). What is interesting though is that his slider, sitting at 83-84 is significantly harder than the one he was throwing in high school. Pre-draft reports had his slider in the upper 70’s. That’s a big jump for an offspeed pitch, one that likely makes it tougher to hit and a better pitch.
With Santillan, it’s going to be about control more than anything else. But he’s already changed something in the early going of his professional career with the improved velocity on his slider. He was viewed as a two-way player if he had gone off to college, so there’s plenty of athleticism there to work with to hopefully refine his mechanics and get the control to improve.