I know I said I'd give some profiles on some other minor leaguers on the next off-day, which happens to be today. But it's 11PM, my inbox has about 10 emails that need to be answered before I go to bed, and I just don't have the energy tonight. So I'll just introduce you to a prospect you probably haven't heard of yet, Faustino De Los Santos, who seems destined to be this year's Oneli Perez.
Prior to two weeks ago, I had never heard of him. He had yet to play in the states, and he doesn't even have page at the Baseball Cube. Therefore, I have nothing else to go on but his stats at MiLB.com. But those stats give you a pretty good idea of his prospect status.
First, his age (21). Most top prospects are a 20 or younger in their first taste of full-season ball, so DLS, as I'll call him to save typing from now on, while not old for his league, isn't an elite prospect based on age versus league.
Looking at his stats from last season, he posted a 1.86 ERA in the DSL, the Dominican Summer League, not to be confused with DLS, the aforementioned shorthand, but I generally give little weight to ERA in pitching prospects. For me, it's all about the peripherals. And it's peripherals DLS has 61 strikeouts against just 10 walks in 48.1 innings last summer. That's a dominating performance.
In early action this season in the Lo-A SALly League, DLS has been shifted between the pen and rotation -- He must have entered the season as Kanny's 5th starter -- while continuing his domination of the competition. In 20.2 innings (it's still early, small sample size warning), he's allowed just 7 hits while striking out 21 and walking 13. The control will have to improve, but it appears we've found ourselves another legit pitching prospect (Just imagine his name was Po-Yu Lin.)