Ervin Santana is 'very happy' with his Braves debut
Ervin Santana said he had 'his own spring training' even while he festered on the free-agent market. / Brad Barr, USA TODAY SportsPORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. â?? In efficiently maneuvering through two innings against the New York Mets on Thursday, Ervin Santana hardly looked like a pitcher making his first appearance of the spring.
The Atlanta Braves right-hander has a simple explanation for that:
He may have remained on the free agent market much longer than he expected, until finally signing a one-year, $14.1 million contract with the Braves on March 12, but Santana wasn't merely sitting by the phone waiting for it to ring.
'While they were having their spring training, I was having mine on my own,'' Santana told USA TODAY Sports in Spanish. 'I was throwing my bullpens, I exercised, ran. I did all the things pitchers usually do, except for facing hitters.''
Santana, 31, said he threw 17 bullpen sessions of 40 pitches or less, sometimes enlisting his brother Jose â?? a former ballplayer â?? to catch him back home in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic.
When February rolled around and he still didn't have a contract, Santana headed to Arizona and worked out at a training facility in Scottsdale.
The results showed, as Santana completed his two innings in 22 pitches, allowing two singles and a run on a sacrifice fly and retiring his last five hitters.
'The guy hasn't pitched for a while and he comes into camp a little bit behind, and he did a nice job,'' manager Fredi Gonzalez said. 'You can tell he's a professional. His secondary pitches were really good.''
Santana looked like he could have easily pitched a third inning, but the Braves stuck to their plan of having him go two for his first start.
'I'm very happy with that performance today,'' said Santana, whose fastball reached 94 mph.
The Braves intend to continue stretching him out through the remainder of the Grapefruit League season before inserting him into the rotation by the second week of April.
It's a rotation that suddenly needed a boost when projected starters Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy went down with season-ending elbow injuries on back-to-back days last week. In addition, left-hander Mike Minor is bouncing back from a bout with shoulder soreness and won't be available early in the season.
That rash of ailments opened the door for Santana, who was about to sign with the Toronto Blue Jays before Atlanta came calling with the chance to pitch for a defending division champion in the DH-less National League.
Santana had expected to cash in with a multiyear deal of perhaps over $100 million after registering a 3.24 ERA and pitching 211 innings for the Kansas City Royals last season.
That kind of offer never came, so he'll be out to reestablish his value, and pitching at Turner Field may help. Santana led the big leagues in home runs allowed with 39 in 2012 and has given up at least 26 in each of the last four seasons. Turner Field ranked 18th in the majors in home runs yielded last season. Toronto's Rogers Centre was third.
'I don't get caught up in whether it's a small ballpark or a big one, or whether I have to face whoever,'' Santana said. 'Every time it's my turn to pitch, regardless of the team we're playing, I go out there to do my job and with the mind-set of winning.''
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