Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Yerry De Los Santos Pushing for a Promotion

Off to a strong, borderline dominant start at Triple-A Indy relief pitching prospect Yerry De Los Santos is pushing for a promotion to the Pittsburgh Pirates

Prior to the cancellation of the Rule 5 Draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates faced multiple difficult decision when it came to protecting players from the draft or not. One of the players they faced a difficult decision with was relief pitching prospect Yerry De Los Santos.

Had there been a Rule 5 Draft there is a good chance the Pittsburgh Pirates would have lost De Los Santos. Thankfully, the draft was cancelled and it all became a moot point, with De Los Santos remaining in the Pirate organization.

Now with the season underway De Los Santos is off to a phenomenal start at Triple-A Indianapolis. In fact, the start he is off to is a borderline dominant one. It is a start that has him quickly pushing for a promotion to the majors.

De Los Santos has pitched 6.0 innings in 5 outings for the Indians this season. The 24-year-old righty has struck out 8 of the 19 batters he has faced for a healthy 42.1% strikeout rate. He has not issued a walk yet, nor has he allowed a home run.

In his 6 scoreless innings pitched De Los Santos has allowed just one base hit. It has not been just the results for De Los Santos that have been impressive. He has kept opposing batters off balanced and made them look uncomfortable at the plate.

Opposing batters are hitting just .053 off of De Los Santos and, again, he has yet to allow a home run. He’s inducing ground balls at a strong 50% clip, while allowing line drives at just a 10% rate. Everything is working right now for De Los Santos.

While the Pirate bullpen has been a strength thus far this season they could still use another arm to help solidify things in the back end of games. Especially if one of Chris Stratton or David Bednar is not available that day. That arm could be De Los Santos, and he should earn a promotion to the major leagues sooner rather than later.