Who is Domingo Santana?

Domingo Santana made his Major League Debut last night much to the excitement of Astros fans. Santana is well known by the Astros community, but sometimes may be left out of the talk by the mainstream outlets. To be fair George Springer and Jon Singleton were more polished coming into 2014 giving them some hype.

Many of you may remember Santana as a player to be named later in the Hunter Pence deal. Apparently the Phillies did not mean to trade the youngster according to reports, but what is done is done. Santana a native of the Dominican Republic, was signed in 2009 as an international free agent, he was only 16. He was drafted as a guy who possessed the five “tools.” Santana has shown the ability to hit, run, throw, field, and most importantly hit for power. At age 21 you may ask how he made it to the bigs this soon? It is simple, he gets on base. He has had on base averages in the mid to high .300’s since 2011 and has gotten on base at a .363 clip total in the minors. Sometimes when it comes to power guys they are just that powerful. Santana’s rare blend of speed and on base ability make him prolong slump proof, much like George Springer.

With the “Big Three” now aboard from the minor leagues, the Astros now possess one of the best young middle of the lineup trios we have seen in recent memory. Santana will likely suffer from the strikeout epidemic like the other two have, especially at age 21. However Santana’s athletic ability leaves him a lot of room for improvement, a chance to be a 20/20 guy, and a ceiling that I would say is Hunter Pence like. I’d almost even wager to say that I have faith Santana is more of a sure thing than is Singleton. All of this for a player to be named later? I would say that is a pretty dang good trade Ed Wade.