The Yankees have agreed to a minor league contract with free agent right-hander Dennis Santana, reports Jessica Kleinschmidt. He’ll head to major league camp during spring training and compete for a bullpen job.
While it’s not the news Yankees fans are anxiously awaiting, Santana will add some depth with big league experience to the Yankees’ system. He spent the 2023 season with the Mets organization, where he tallied 10 2/3 innings at the MLB level and yielded seven runs in that time. The hard-throwing Santana has at times shown potential to be a steady big league reliever, but he’s yet to find much consistency at the MLB level.
Santana once ranked as one of the top pitching prospects in a deep Dodgers system, but his stock has fallen since injuries — most notably a torn rotator cuff in 2018 — slowed his development and eventually pushed him to a bullpen role. He’s spent time with the Dodgers, Rangers and Mets over the past three seasons, in addition to offseason waiver stops in Atlanta and Minnesota.
Overall, Santana carries a career 5.17 ERA in 149 2/3 MLB frames. He averaged 95.9 mph on his fastball last year and is at 96.2 mph for his career. Santana has whiffed 21.2% of his big league opponents and produced grounders at a solid 44.9% clip, but he’s also walked 12% of the batters he’s faced.
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