The Giants announced that they have designated right-hander Gregory Santos for assignment. The club will need to open one more roster spot, to allow for recent signees Sean Manaea and Carlos Correa to fit onto the 40-man.
Santos, 23, began his career in the Red Sox organization but came to the Giants in the 2017 deadline deal that sent Eduardo Núñez to Boston. The Giants were impressed enough with his development to give him a 40-man roster spot ahead of the 2020 Rule 5 draft. In 2021, Santos made a brief MLB debut but was handed an 80-game suspension in June after testing positive for Stanozolol, a banned performance-enhancing drug.
In 2022, Santos served as optional depth, throwing just 3 2/3 innings in the big leagues. In 33 Triple-A innings, he posted a 4.91 ERA with strong strikeout rate and ground ball rates of 23% and 51.7%, respectively. However, control was an issue with Santos walking 13.5% of batters faced, something that has been a persistent problem in recent years. He has a 16.7% walk rate in his brief MLB tenure as well.
The Giants will have one week to trade Santos or pass him through waivers. Despite those control issues, there are reasons Santos might find some interest from other clubs. He’s still quite young and has one option year remaining, allowing him to serve as depth in the minor leagues. He also has excellent velocity, with his fastball averaged at 98.8 mph in his brief showing this year. For any club that feels they can better harness that power, Santos could be a worthwhile pickup.
