From waiver wire to high-leverage reliever, Pirates' Dennis Santana among club's best pickups

The Pittsburgh Pirates had nothing to lose when they brought righty reliever Dennis Santana aboard in mid-June.

Santana had just been jettisoned by the New York Yankees after posting a 6.26 ERA in 23 appearances.

The Pirates scooped Santana off waivers in a low-risk, potentially high-reward move.

Aside from a handful of stretches, the 28-year-old Santana’s seven-year MLB career prior to arriving in Pittsburgh had been unremarkable.

Yet the Pirates saw something in Santana.

“I think what we envisioned is, we have the ability to make some adjustments here,” manager Derek Shelton said. “I think anytime when you get a guy, a waiver claim or something in that regard, we’ve identified two or three things we think can help them.

“You don’t know until you get them in the room, and I think in this case, we did a really good job of identifying what we thought were the most important things. Dennis kind of took it and ran with it.”

If acquiring Santana represented a gamble, it’s paid off nicely for the Pirates, as he’s turned into a dependable, high-leverage reliever.

Over the course of the season, the Pirates bullpen as a group hasn’t exactly showered itself in glory, posting a combined ERA of 4.63, which is 27th in baseball.

But Santana has been an exception.

In 33 games with the Pirates, he’s 1-1 with a 2.58 ERA over 38 1/3 innings.

Santana has given up only 11 earned runs and has 44 strikeouts compared to nine walks.

Having spent parts of four years with the Los Angeles Dodgers, two with the Texas Rangers and one with the New York Mets and Yankees, Santana has been appreciative of how the Pirates’ staff has worked with him.

“I’ve been on six or seven teams, and (the Pirates) have found a way to help me out,” he said. “Everybody (is) watching how I do from the past and now since I got to the Pirates. They’ve been doing a really good job, and I appreciate that a lot.”

Santana has been elite at avoiding hard contact this year.

Hitters’ 86.2 mph average exit velocity against him ranks in the 95th percentile across MLB, per Statcast.

In addition, Santana has been effective at collecting swings and misses, as evidenced by his chase rate of 36.1% and whiff percentage of 28.7%.

With regard to the latter, Santana has his slider largely to thank.

It’s his favorite pitch, and he throws it a third of the time. When Santana is executing his slider, it has been tough to hit.

“This confidence I have right now, I don’t know why I (didn’t) have it before,” Santana said. “But it’s never too late. When I’m on the mound, I’ve got the confidence that everything’s going to be good. I trust everything I throw, and I’ve got the confidence that I’m going to make the out.”

Santana also relies heavily on a four-seam fastball that averages 96 mph but has been climbing in speed lately, in addition to a cutter that he started throwing just this past winter.

Santana learned the cutter from Milwaukee pitcher Frankie Montas when the two were teammates with the Yankees.

Refining the cutter and being better about locating the slider are areas the Pirates have worked on with Santana.

“I think the evolution of the cutter has been something. The cutter-slider combo has been something that our group has done a really good job of kind of unlocking for him to be more consistent,” Shelton said.

Santana’s role with the Pirates has evolved over the span of a few months.

Initially used as a middle reliever and in lower-leverage situations, Santana has earned more of a back-end role, allowing Shelton to use him confidently in close games.

The Pirates have had several swings and misses on the waiver wire this year, but Santana has been among the club’s best pickups.

“The big thing with Dennis is, there’s not a lot that ruffles him,” Shelton said. “He’s pretty calm. I think because of it, his ability to adjust, change and learn and then the calmness about him is why he’s garnered some success.”