Diamondbacks Sign Former Pirates Reliever

2026 has gone anything but smoothly for the 30-year-old righty. He's got a 6.05 ERA in 41.2 innings. His peripherals do not provide much hope that that number is artificially inflated, either. He's also posted a 5.41 expected ERA and 5.47 FIP — not exactly numbers that inspire confidence in his performance this year.

But it is worth noting that Santana has had some high levels of success in recent years. He pitched to a sparkling 2.18 ERA in 2025 and a 3.89 in 2024 — both seasons posting over 70 innings of work.

Despite the fact that Santana owns a fastball in the mid-90s and a relatively deep arsenal of pitches, he hasn't quite been a strikeout-heavy arm for the past few years, instead relying more on soft contact. There hasn't been much of that this year, however, as he has average exit velocity and hard-hit rates well below league average.

The biggest apparent issue for Santana this year has been walks. He's walked 4.54 batters per nine innings, which is by far his highest since the 2023 season. In 2024 and 2025, he kept that number well under 3.00.

This could make him a fit for Arizona, who has seen a more zone-focused approach from many of their relievers this year — leading to around a league-average output from the D-backs' group of bullpen arms. It's certainly been better than the previous two seasons, at least.

This deal is not quite the same as trading for a sturdy, high-performing bullpen arm at the Deadline, but Santana could conceivably make some appearances on the big league roster for Arizona this season, especially if he performs at the offense-heavy Pacific Coast League level.

The D-backs just had to place right-hander Ryan Thompson on the 15-day IL with a low back injury. It's unclear as of this writing what Thompson's timeline will be. For the time being, Arizona has called upon left-hander Philip Abner to fill that roster spot.