MVN - Most Valuable Network

Swisher’s Returns: Fautino De Los Santos

When A’s G.M. Billy Beane said he was prepared to go “full bore” in rebuilding the organization’s lower levels, few expected OF/1B Nick Swisher to be the next white cleat to fall. “Swish” was, after all, Beane’s own project and his infamous book’s protagonist. But as perhaps the A’s most likable player is gone, three more prospects fill in Beane’s conga line - all waiting to play a small part in the masterful executive’s plan.

Just as we dissected the incoming players in the Dan Haren-trade, so too will we measure Swisher’s parting gifts. The second player we’ll examine is left-handed starting pitcher Fautino De Los Santos. Soon to come: Ryan Sweeney; Already done: Gio Gonzalez.

De Los Santos, 21, is a hard-throwing right-hander out of the Dominican Republic. At 6 feet tall, 205 pounds, scouts love his power but question his makeup. He spent 2006 in the Dominican summer league before exploding in his first full season of professional baseball and climbing up the prospect charts.

2007: Split between the Winston-Salem Warthogs (A+) and Kannapolis Intimidators (A)

• 10-5 in 26 games (20 starts)
• 2.65 ERA in 122.1 IP, yielding just 61 hits and 8 home runs
• 153: 43 (K:BB) while holding the opposition to a .163 AVG

And here’s the experts’ opinion….

MiLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo:

The 21-year-old righty made his U.S. debut a memorable one in 2007. He spent most of the year with Kannapolis in the South Atlantic League and made hitters there look silly all year. The South Atlantic League All-Star finished ninth in the league with 121 K’s (against just 36 walks), despite throwing just 97 2/3 innings there…

He has the kind of stuff that could eventually play at the top of a rotation with four pitches — fastball, curve, slider and changeup — that all work. He did some relief work with Kannapolis and if for some reason his development as a starter stalls, he’s definitely got a future as a short reliever, with a fastball he can crank into the upper 90s and a plus slider to go along with it. He gave up a run on a homer to Justin Upton in the Futures Game, but he also blew away two hitters (one of them Red Sox postseason hero Jacoby Ellsbury) in an inning of work, perhaps a sign of things to come.

ESPN’s ever-discerning Keith Law:

Right-hander Fautino De Los Santos is the potential star in the deal. He has an outstanding fastball-curveball combination that at least sets him up to be a power reliever. His fastball sits 92-96 mph with a little bit of late life; his control is already solid-average and his command is a shade below. His curveball is a potential outpitch in the big leagues and already grades out above-average, although it’s inconsistent. At worst, he projects as a power two-pitch reliever; if he adds a third pitch to help him get through a lineup three times and can build up some durability, he’s got a chance to be a No. 1/2 starter. Of course, he carries the same injury and development risks as any A-ball pitcher does, and he’s not at the level of other top pitching prospects who bring three or more pitches and/or greater polish to the table, like Clay Buchholz, Clayton Kershaw or Joba Chamberlain, but he becomes the A’s best prospect and their best hope to develop a top-of-the-rotation starter.

Baseball Prospectus says there’s no ‘Ugly’ in De los Santos, pegging him as the White Sox’s best prospect and a ***** talent:

The Good: Built like a tree trunk, De Los Santos gets tremendous drive. His fastball sits at 91-95 mph, touching 98 at times; it also has late movement, and he commands it very well. His breaking pitch is a power curve with hard late bite, and it’s a true out pitch when he’s on. He understands the importance of developing an offspeed pitch, and he improved his changeup over the course of the year.
The Bad: De Los Santos gets into bad habits at times, and can overthrow all of his pitches, costing him life on his fastball, break on his curve, and decreasing the velocity gap between the heat and his changeup. Some worry that his aggressiveness might work against him when facing more advanced hitters, and that he needs to learn how to set up batters and be more aware of the count, as opposed to challenging hitters with every pitch. If his changeup doesn’t continue to improve, some fear he’ll be limited to a relief role.

Baseball America:

De Los Santos, 21, came out of nowhere last season in his U.S. debut. Signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2006, he rode his mid-90s fastball and plus slider to an appearance in the Futures Game last summer…

He has better pure stuff but not as much polish or savvy as [Gio] Gonzalez, as well as a similar ceiling. De los Santos will need more time to develop.

After much thought, and even considering how fun it is to watch Swisher play, I can’t help but like this trade. De Los Santos is a huge part of that. But my fears, as are that of the critical but fair Keith Law, is that De Los Santos may stagger his development and becomes the A’s version of Jose Capellan: the thrower with two good types of throws instead of the pitchers with three types of pitches; if De Los Santos turns out to be the former, it puts the kibosh on an otherwise even trade.

There has to be some risk in De Los Santos. He has just one full year under his belt, and (despite what the “experts” say) has yet to fully develop a dependable third pitch.

It’s his ceiling which excites. And now the A’s future rotation may be dominating if it includes: the newly-acquired De Los Santos, Gonzalez, Brett Anderson and just-drafted James Simmons and Trevor Cahill. But some think De Los Santos is already tops in that group loaded with potential.

De Los Santos was not in the Chi-Sox top 10 prospects of 2007, and won’t be in 2008 either. But expect to see him as high as second or third on the A’s list come Jan. 30.

And while the cavalier Beane is said to be building up the corps for a 2011 squad that may have new digs, De Los Santos and others won’t languish in the lower levels of the A’s MiLB system.

Beane told MLB.com, “Guys who’ve achieved that much, even at a lower level, have a chance to move pretty quick.”

And he means it: De Los Santos is currently slated to begin 2008 in a Midland Rockhounds (AA) uniform alongside fellow stud righty Simmons. De Los Santos’ path could turn in one of two directions:

1. The A’s want to move his arm as fast as possible, even if it means throwing him in the ‘pen as the Tigers did with Joel Zumaya. In this case, De Los Santos need only to show short success for a Sacramento promotion.
2. The A’s are committed to bringing the inexperienced flame-thrower along slowly to make sure he develops a third pitch and posssess the makeup of a starting pitcher. In this case, a more likely scenario, expect De Los Santos to spend all of 2008 in Midland and most of (if not all) of 2009 in Sac-Town.

While the fan reaction to trading established stars like Haren and Swisher is tense; perhaps, we should finally learn to take Billy the Kid at his word. And, in the meantime, come up with a nickname for this newest of the new players: A four-word moniker just isn’t going to cut it in the ‘bigs.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 7th, 2008 at 2:53 pm and is filed under Midland, Prospects, scouting report, Transactions, Trades. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.