Yerry De Los Santos certainly didn’t look nervous on the mound against the Colorado Rockies.
The 24-year-old right-hander, who was called up from Class AAA Indianapolis by the Pirates on Monday, didn’t get the call out of the bullpen until Wednesday. For relievers in that position, those days of waiting can be difficult, left to sit with your emotions and any first-time jitters as they get accustomed to life in the big leagues.
But when De Los Santos toed the slab in the ninth inning, looking to close out a 10-5 win for his team, he made it obvious that he belongs at this level right now.
Facing Rockies catcher Brian Serven to lead off the inning, he began with a sinker at 93 mph, painting the outside corner. Then he threw nothing but sliders, eventually getting Serven to whiff on one in the zone.
De Los Santos did allow a weak single up the middle and walked four-time All-Star Charlie Blackmon later in the inning, but he finished it off with a battle against C.J. Cron, a player hitting .314 with a .955 OPS this season.
A first pitch slider and a 95 mph sinker, both for called strikes, made it 0-2, but Cron proceeded to foul off a couple of tough pitches and eventually worked a full count. De Los Santos didn’t blink, tossing his best slider of the day. It bit low and away, nearly scraping the dirt, but Cron couldn’t resist, swinging through it to end the game as De Los Santos pumped his fists on the mound.
It won’t always be like this. De Los Santos will surely run into more trouble, and this outing wasn’t perfect to start with, but it is a strong first impression to make after receiving high praise from Pirates brass upon his call-up.
“To be honest with you, I’ve always been a huge believer in myself,” De Los Santos said through team translator Mike Gonzalez. “I’ve always been very confident about myself from what I can bring to the team. But you do question yourself, like, man, am I really ready for this? Am I really going to do well up here? To come up here and strike people out, it does give you a boost of energy, but also a bigger reminder that I do belong here.”
That doesn’t mean De Los Santos didn’t feel the weight of his opportunity the last couple of days. In his words, though, he just tried to stay busy, throwing as much as possible to keep his mind off any pressure he might feel.
It helps that he’s been called up alongside several familiar faces in the Pirates’ clubhouse. On Tuesday, a day after his call-up, outfielder Cal Mitchell and right-hander Roansy Contreras joined him in Pittsburgh. He played with both all of last season and has gotten to know others in the organization.
De Los Santos is also comforted by music. His walk-out song, “No Estoy Solo,” — “I am not alone,” in English — is a religious song by Dominican Christian duo Tercer Cielo.
“It’s a song that I’m very well-connected to, especially because it was there for me in many times that I felt at my lowest,” De Los Santos said. “Whether it was me feeling a little lost or mentally frustrated or injured, that was a song that I would always go to, and it would give me energy and give me the strength to pray to God and just find peace.”
That’s a sentiment that goes beyond the mound, but whatever helped De Los Santos in his debut worked for him. He cranked the slider all the way up to 96 on Wednesday. His slider induced six swings, and the Rockies whiffed on it three times, including the put-out pitches for both of his strikeouts.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise. De Los Santos hasn’t had a full-season ERA higher than 2.00 since 2018. He’s struck out at least a batter per inning ever season since 2017.
MLB will obviously be his hardest test yet, but so far, so good. The 24-year-old looked like he belonged Wednesday.
“Major league debut and in the last inning he had to go through the heart of their order,” manager Derek Shelton said. “The fastball came out nice. We saw the sinker. He was able to execute breaking balls. Had some guys on base but I don’t think he got sped up at all, which is good to see. He didn’t worry about it.”
Mike Persak: mpersak@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MikeDPersak
First Published: May 26, 2022, 1:13 p.m.
Updated: May 26, 2022, 2:10 p.m.
