The waiver pick-up that has saved the Pittsburgh Pirates' bullpen

Entering this year, many had high hopes for the Pittsburgh Pirates’ bullpen, but things quickly went awry. Dauri Moreta underwent Tommy John surgery in spring training, Ryan Borucki landed on the IL in early April and has yet to pitch in the majors since, and David Bednar has lost all command over his primary breaking pitch. 

There have been some bright spots, but one of the brightest this season has come from someone who wasn’t even in the organization until early June.

On June 11, the Pirates claimed right-handed pitcher Dennis Santana from the New York Yankees. Although Santana didn’t make a great first impression, allowing six earned runs in just his second outing in black and gold, he’s been a lockdown reliever since.

Over Santana’s last 27 innings of work, the right-hander has pitched to the tune of a 1.67 ERA and 1.04 WHIP. Santana has struck out a third of opponents while limiting his walks significantly, dispensing a free pass to just 4.9% of batters faced entering Sunday's shutout work. He has allowed a single home run as well.

Opponents have struggled mightily to make contact off of Santana. He has a whiff rate of 36.2%. When they do put the bat on the ball, it has rarely resulted in quality contact. Santana has held opposing batters to a meager 83.2 and 3.3% barrel rate.

Santana’s fastball has been an effective offering, holding hitters to a slugging percentage and wOBA under .300. His slider has induced a similar SLG% and wOBA, but this is the pitch he has gotten most of his swings and misses on, with a 50% whiff rate. His cutter has also induced a ton of weak contact with just an 86.1 MPH exit velo and zero percent barrel rate. The Pirates have gotten Santana to completely reduce the usage of his sinker, which has easily been his least effective pitch this year.

With how effective Santana has been this year, he has a clear and easy shot to return next year with the Pirates. He is under control for two more seasons via arbitration. Given the struggles the Pirates have had finding pitchers who can handle late-inning and high leverage work recently, Santana might earn himself a more important role. If he can showcase his skills and continue to pitch well in those situations, he might be in line for more than just middle relief work next season.