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High School  | General | 10/30/2019

Santos Finding Winning Formula

Blake Dowson
Photo: Alex Santos (Perfect Game)

High School Class of 2020 Player Rankings | Rankings Risers: Class of 2020

Alex Santos is from New York City. He carries that New York attitude with him when he’s on the mound, making quick work of opposing lineups.

He says that’s normal for kids where he grew up.

“In New York, you have a ton of kids that are really dedicated and super aggressive,” Santos said. “Kids like me that come from this side of New York, I feel like we have a certain attitude. We show that we’re really tough. Since we have winter here, when our season is over, we basically have to go indoors. But that doesn’t affect kids from here. We all have this attitude like whatever comes, we’ll get through it.”

Santos likes to take the same attitude onto the mound as Marcus Stroman, another New York City product.

He doesn’t really steal offspeed grips or mechanics or anything, but the attitude he gets from Stroman is more important than any of that, according to Santos.

Even if Stroman does pitch for the Mets now, and Santos is from the Bronx.

“I don’t really copy mechanics, but I do copy attitude on the mound,” he said. “I look at Stroman, because I love his presence on the mound. He’s so aggressive on the mound. That’s what I love about him and that’s what I try to do.”

Santos, the No. 13 prospect in the 2020 class, is the highest-ranked prospect out of New York since Ian Anderson in 2016, a first round pick of the Atlanta Braves that same year. Anderson has already made his way to Triple A in the Braves system.

The Bronx native has been skyrocketing up the prospect rankings in the past year, thanks to great showings at the Perfect Game National Showcase and PG All-American Classic, where Santos struck out two and was up to 95 mph in his one inning of work.

He credits the results he’s had on the mound this year – which in turn led to him climbing all the way up to No. 13 in the 2020 class after being outside of the top-100 heading into this year – with a dedication to getting his mechanics right and an arm care program that he’s been doing since he was 13 years old.

“I did a lot of hard work,” Santos said. “I put a lot of time into the weight room and a lot of time into my craft. My trainer put in a lot of work with me, getting my mechanics on point. It was a lot of work like that.

“I hit the weight room really hard. My whole body got a lot bigger. I do a lot of arm care, too. I have a pretty strict routine with my arm care, and I’ve been doing it since I was 13. It really helps me improve each year.”

Last year, Santos’ arm would drag behind him sometimes when he threw. He’s listed at 6-foot-4, and when you watch him pitch, he’s all arms and legs. Tall pitchers can have a hard time repeating mechanics at times.

Santos knew that, and knew he fell victim to that every once in a while. So, he set out to fix it.

“This year, I’ve mastered [the mechanics]. In the past, my problems would be because I’m tall and my arms are so long, it would be getting on top of the ball,” he explained. “Sometimes my arm would drag back, like I would almost be done with my windup and my arm should be up top, it shouldn’t be dragging. My arms are so long that it can be hard, so that’s been an issue in the past. But I’ve worked on it a ton and learned to stay short with my arm.”

A lot of hours in the bullpen repeating mechanics and meticulously tweaking things led to more consistency, and led to him being one of the top prospects in the class.

That bullpen time also led to him developing a slider in the past year, which he has added to a repertoire that already included four- and two-seam fastballs, a curveball, and a changeup.

The slider, too, is yet another reason Santos is the No. 3 righthanded pitcher in the class.

He showcased his slider at the PG National Showcase early this summer, and scouts took notice.

“Has good feel for his slider and uses it to different spots and can change the angle and velocity, flashes some two-plane snap to it,” part of his report reads, written up by Perfect Game National Scouting Coordinator Vinnie Cervino.

The further development of the slider will wait for a while now, as Santos is into his fall arm care program.

He’s done pitching for the year, and he will give himself a much-deserved break from the mound after a summer that included four Perfect Game events, as well as MLB’s new Prospect Development Pipeline league.

“Every year, I take about two and a half months off from throwing,” Santos said. “This year…I decided to take the fall off and in about mid-December, I’ll start throwing again. Just light catch and stuff. I’ll start up with my weight program and my arm care program. There are stages for both of those.”

Santos will pick up a weighted ball and start throwing with it in January, something he credited for gaining 15 mph on his fastball in three years – from topping out at 80 mph in 2016 to the 95 mph heater he threw in San Diego at the All-American Classic.

The regiment hasn’t been broke, so he won’t fix it.

It’s led him to some amazing places and allowed him to meet some amazing people along the way. It was a tiring season, Santos said, but one he will always be very thankful to have been given.

“It was a really fun summer,” he said. “I became really close with a lot of the guys. I became good friends with Nate Savino and Carson Swilling. It was just a great experience getting to learn from these guys that played in the MLB, on a bunch of pitching stuff. Everything was just amazing.”
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