To say that the season got out to an incredible start for Tony Santillan would be an understatement. The 19-year-old was sent to the Billings Mustangs to begin his 2016 campaign. In his first three starts, all in June, he allowed 11 hits in 13.1 innings with four walks and an incredible 27 strikeouts. He only faced 55 total batters in that stretch, meaning that he struck out 49.1% of all batters that stepped into the box against him. His ERA was 2.70 on the month in those three starts.
July got out to a bit of a rough start for Tony Santillan. On the 2nd of the month he walked five batters in 4.0 innings with three earned runs. The next time out he walked four more batters in 5.2 innings with three more earned runs. He settled back in after that, making three more starts for the Mustangs in the month, throwing 16.0 innings with just three walks and 11 strikeouts. For the month he posted a 4.56 ERA in 25.2 innings with 12 walks and 19 strikeouts for Billings.
Tony Santillan began August with a new team after earning a promotion to the Dayton Dragons. His first taste of the Midwest League didn’t go so well, allowing seven runs in 3.1 innings with five walks and two strikeouts. He rebounded well the next time out, allowing just two runs on the road against Lake County in 6.0 innings where he had two walks and seven strikeouts. Struggles followed in the next start at home against South Bend as he allowed five runs in 4.2 innings with four walks. Following the pattern of alternating good and bad starts, the right handed pitcher dominated on August 17th as he allowed just one hit in 5.2 innings with 10 strikeouts. The next two starts were both rough, with the first a start in which he didn’t make it out of the 1st inning with four walks and the next one where he walked five batters with just one strikeout in 3.0 innings. On September 2nd he would make his final start of the year and he went out on a high note, striking out 10 batters with one walk in 7.0 shutout innings against Lake County. With the ups-and-downs over the final five weeks he posted a 6.82 ERA with 24 walks and 38 strikeouts in 30.1 innings
| Level | IP | H | ERA | HR | BB | K |
| Bil | 39.0 | 32 | 3.92 | 4 | 16 | 46 |
| Day | 30.1 | 27 | 6.82 | 3 | 24 | 38 |
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Tony Santillan Scouting Report
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Fastball | The bread-and-butter for Tony Santillan, his fastball regularly works in the 94-96 MPH range and touches the upper 90’s. The pitch topped out at 101 MPH this season.
Slider | The pitch comes in the mid-80’s and shows plus potential, though it can still be inconsistent at times.
Change Up | It’s not a pitch he showed as often as the other two, but it works in the mid-80’s. It’s still a pitch that needs refining and is a bit straight at times.
From the time that he was drafted in June of 2015 to the end of the 2016 season, Tony Santillan has refined and worked on mechanical changes to improve his control. It’s worked, at times, but he’s also gone through real bouts of struggles to throw strikes at times as well. When he’s able to throw strikes, he’s generally able to dominate hitters. He’s definitely going to have to continue to work on improving his control and finding more consistency with it if he’s going to remain a starting pitcher in the long run, though the Reds are going to stick with him in the rotation as long as they can. He’s got top of the rotation caliber stuff when he’s at his best, but his control issues are a serious concern. If he’s eventually got to move to the bullpen everything should play up, but that’s a decision that’s likely years down the road from being made.
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