Winston Santos named SAL Pitcher of the Week

Hickory Crawdads pitcher Winston Santos was named the South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Week for the week just past. The righthander, who turned 22 last week, struck out 12 and walked two in five shutout innings while allowing just one hit.

Santos has gotten off to a terrific start to the 2024 season. In three starts for Hickory, he has thrown 15.2 innings, allowed just one run, allowed opponents a .161/.217/.161 slash line, and struck out 24 of 60 batters faced while walking just four.

This is a huge turnaround for Santos, who came into 2023 as one of the Rangers’ more well-regarded pitching prospects in the lower levels, having put up a 3.49 ERA in 108 innings over 22 appearances for Down East in 2022. He had a miserable 2023 campaign at Hickory, however, putting up a 6.29 ERA in 98 innings over 25 appearances. His walk rate was largely steady, but his K rate dropped and his home run rate skyrocketed.

Santos largely disappeared from the Rangers prospect lists this winter, but reports out of spring training indicated that he had added a significant amount of velocity on his fastball over the winter. Previously more of a “pitchability” guy than a flamethrower, Santos appears to have taken a big step forward.

Given that Santos is repeating high-A and is Rule 5 eligible this offseason, I would expect him to get moved up to AA Frisco in the next couple of months if he keeps this up. Continuing success there would vault Santos up in the Rangers’ pitching prospect hierarchy, and make him a potential top 10 prospect in the system by year’s end.