Phillies: Five prospects who had breakout seasons in 2018
By Josh Starr
Enyel De Los Santos, RHP, Lehigh Valley/Philadelphia
The Phillies acquired De Los Santos from the Padres for shortstop Freddy Galvis last offseason, and the return has been fantastic..
He spent most of the year in Lehigh Valley and had a few call-ups to the Phillies when the team was dealing with injuries. In five major league games, two of which were starts, De Los Santos is 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA. He looked strong in his major league debut against the Mets, going 6.1 innings giving up three runs on five hits and three walks while striking out six.
Philadelphia Phillies
De Los Santos had decent expectations after being labeled a top pitching prospect in the Padres’ deep pool of pitchers and after the Phillies gave up their starting shortstop for him. De Los Santos did not disappoint in his first season in the Phillies organization. In Lehigh Valley, the 22-year-old was 10-5 with a 2.63 ERA in 22 starts.
In his first 12 starts, De Los Santos had a 1.47 ERA. In that 12th start on June 12, he threw a seven inning complete game shutout against Buffalo. In the win, he gave up four hits, walked three, hit two and struck out seven. He had a season-high 115 pitches in that start.
In the second half, he slowed down a bit, but not enough to derail his season. His only poor starts came in the second half when gave up seven earned runs on July 29 and four earned on Aug. 29.
Other than that, De Los Santos gave up three or less earned runs in all of his other 20 starts.
Depending on what the Phillies do this offseason, De Los Santos could find himself in the rotation next year or he could be a long man out of the bullpen.