The Giants have agreed to a minor league deal with right-handed reliever Gregory Santos, as first reported by Mike Rodriguez. He’ll be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee next spring.
The 26-year-old Santos returns to the club with which he made his major league debut back in 2021. While he originally signed with the Red Sox as a teenager back in 2016, Santos was flipped to the Giants organization a year later as part of the team’s return for infielder Eduardo Nuñez. Santos spent four-plus seasons in the Giants’ system before making brief appearances in the majors in both 2021 and 2022. He wound up pitching only 5 2/3 innings as a Giant before being traded again — this time to the White Sox in exchange for minor league righty Kade McClure.
Santos was a key late-inning arm for the Sox in 2023, totaling a career-high 66 1/3 innings with a 3.39 earned run average, five saves and six holds. He fanned a solid 22.8% of his opponents, walked just 5.9% of the batters he faced and kept a hearty 52.8% of his opponents’ batted balls on the ground — all while averaging a blazing 98.9 mph on his sinker.
Santos spent only one season with the South Siders, who sold high and flipped him to the Mariners in exchange for a pair of prospects (outfielder Zach DeLoach and righty Prelander Berroa) as well as a Competitive Balance draft pick (used to select high school lefty Blake Larson). Santos spent parts of two seasons with the Mariners but only tallied 14 1/3 innings in the majors, as injuries repeatedly shelved him for extended periods of time. A significant lat strain, biceps inflammation and knee surgery combined to just 26 2/3 innings total — majors and minors combined — during his two seasons with the M’s, who non-tendered Santos last month.
If Santos is back to full health this spring, he’s a nice flier with a bit of upside to add to the bullpen competition. He won’t turn 27 until next August and was still sitting 98 mph with his sinker this past season, even amid the ongoing injury woes. Santos doesn’t miss bats at a plus level like one might expect from someone with his huge velocity, but he’s shown the ability to limit walks and rack up grounders at a high clip. If he’s added to the big league roster at any point, Santos still has a minor league option remaining and is under club control via arbitration for at least three more seasons.