For all 2016 Prospect Ranking Scouting Reports – click here (these will come out one a day over the offseason).
The Cincinnati Reds would draft Antonio Santillan with the 49th overall pick in the draft and their 2nd pick. The right handed pitcher would sign two weeks after the draft, but wouldn’t take the mound for over a month after the draft. He would make his professional debut with the Arizona League Reds on July 13th with a relief appearance. Santillan would throw 1.1 shutout innings with a walk and a strikeout against the Dodgers. The next time out he would get the starting nod and toss 2.0 shutout innings with a hit and a walk. Things wouldn’t go as smooth on July 24th against the Indians, who would roughhim up for four runs in 1.1 innings where he would walk three batters without a strikeout. The Texas native would finish the month on a strong note, tossing 2.2 shutout innings with a walk and four strikeouts against the Padres on the 30th. He would post a 4.91 ERA in 7.1 innings with six walks and five strikeouts on the month.
Building on a strong final start of July, Santillan would be charged with an unearned run in 3.2 innings with two walks and three strikeouts on the 6th against the Diamondbacks. A week later he would put up his best start thus far, tossing 4.0 shutout innings with a walk and two strikeouts against the White Sox. On August 19th he would return to the mound and once again make the best start of the season thus far as he allowed just one hit and a walk over 4.0 shutout innings against the Athletics where he would also strike out seven batters. Unfortunately, after such a strong run the season would end on a sour note. In his final start of the season the right hander would allow seven runs in 0.2 innings against the White Sox. He would finish the month with a 5.11 ERA in 12.1 innings with five walks and 14 strikeouts.
Antonio Santillan allowed runs in just two of his starts on the season, but they were for a combined 11 earned runs in just 2.0 innings of work. In his other six games he was quite good, but those two starts were very rough on his overall numbers.
| ERA | IP | H | HR | BB | K | WHIP |
| 5.03 | 19.2 | 15 | 1 | 11 | 19 | 1.32 |
Scouting Report
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Fastball | His fastball works in the 94-95 MPH range and touches 98, rating out as an above-average to plus pitch.
Slider | A second potentially plus pitch, his slider in the mid 80’s has two plane break with good biting action.
Change Up | The change up is still a work in progress offering, but it did improve from his time in high school to the end of his first season. It’s a below-average offering now, but shows enough to believe it could be an average offering in the future.
Coming out of high school, control was a big concern with Antonio Santillan. He was able to improve that as the season went along, but will need to show continued improvement. Mechanically, he’s got a lot going on and could benefit from simplifying things which could also go towards improving his control as it could help him repeat his motion and release point. With his size, 6′ 3″ and 240 lbs, he’s got the size you want to see for a starter and with three pitches, two of which could be future plus offerings, the upside is very high for Santillan. Throwing strikes is going to be something that could hold him back and push him to the bullpen in the future, but the Reds believe he can start and are going to give him plenty of opportunities to do so. If he eventually winds up in the bullpen, his fastball and slider will play very well in that role. He’s the very definition of high risk/high reward.
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