Hector Santiago (baseball)

Hector Felipe Santiago (born December 16, 1987) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Acereros de Monclova of the Mexican League.

Santiago graduated in 2006 from Bloomfield Tech High School in Essex County, New Jersey.

He played one year at Okaloosa-Walton Community College (now Northwest Florida State College).

He is of Puerto Rican descent.

The Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB) drafted Santiago in the 30th round of the 2006 MLB Draft, and he signed with the team on May 30, 2007.

He made his professional debut with the Rookie-level Bristol White Sox of the Appalachian League that summer, going 1–1 with a 1.65 ERA in 17 relief appearances.

While playing for Bristol, Santiago also befriended Nate Jones, and the pair rose through the White Sox's farm system at the same pace.

In 2008, he played for the Single-A Kannapolis Intimidators, recording a 5-1 record and 4.06 ERA in 38 games.

For the 2009 season, Santiago played for the High-A Winston-Salem Dash, pitching to a 4-4 record and 3.88 ERA with 66 strikeouts in 58.0 innings of work.

He returned to Winston-Salem the following year, registering a 4-5 record and 4.15 ERA with 61 strikeouts in 60.2 innings pitched.

He has played in MLB for the Chicago White Sox from 2011 to 2013 and in 2018 and 2019, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from 2014 to 2016, Minnesota Twins from 2016 to 2017, New York Mets in 2019, and Seattle Mariners in 2021.

He plays for the Puerto Rico national baseball team.

He played one year of college baseball at Okaloosa-Walton Community College in Niceville, Florida.

Santiago, who split time with Winston-Salem and the Double-A Birmingham Barons in the first half of 2011, was called up to the majors for the first time on June 26, 2011.

Santiago made his MLB debut on July 6, 2011, pitching a perfect ninth inning against the Kansas City Royals.

He struck out Eric Hosmer for his first Major League strikeout.

On April 7, 2012, Santiago earned his first career save by striking out Elvis Andrus to seal a 4–3 victory for the White Sox.

On May 8, Santiago earned his first career win during a 5–3 victory over the Cleveland Indians, pitching one inning yielding two hits and striking out one.

He remained the majority of the season in the bullpen while also starting on four occasions.

He finished 4-1 in 42 games with 4 saves.

In 2013, Santiago split between the White Sox bullpen and The Rotation, finishing with 23 starts while also appearing 11 times out of the bullpen.

Although his ERA for the season was 3.56, his record was just 4-9 for the White Sox.

Santiago was traded to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on December 10, 2013, in a three-team trade involving the Chicago White Sox, the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the Los Angeles Angels.

The Angels received Tyler Skaggs along with Santiago, while the White Sox received Adam Eaton and the Diamondbacks received Mark Trumbo and two players to be named later.

In his first season in Anaheim, Santiago was fairly inconsistent, he averaged less than 6 innings per start and for a moment was sent to the bullpen, where he made 6 appearances while also starting 24 times for the Angels.

In 127.1 innings, Santiago went 6-9 with a 3.75 ERA.

He was an All Star in 2015.

Santiago enjoyed his best season in 2015, setting career highs in wins, innings, strikeouts, and in WHIP.

He had the lowest ground ball percentage among major league pitchers (29.9%), and the highest fly ball percentage (53.6%).

Santiago began the 2016 season in the Angels rotation.

From April to June, Santiago recorded a record of 4-4 with an ERA of 5.27.

However, in the month of July, Santiago went on a roll for the Angels, allowing just 8 runs in 35.1 innings while posting a 6-0 record.

His 2016 stats with Anaheim ended in 22 starts while going 10-4.

He did however raise his walk total, issuing 57 walks in 120.2 innings.

On August 1, 2016, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim traded Santiago along with Alan Busenitz to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for Ricky Nolasco, Alex Meyer, and cash.

For the Twins in 2016, he was 3-6 with a 5.58 ERA.

Pitching for the two teams, he had the lowest line drive percentage allowed (15.9%) of all major league pitchers, the highest fly ball percentage allowed (50.0%), and gave up the highest percentage of hard-hit balls (37.3%).

He spent much of the 2017 season on the disabled list, and finished with a 4-8 record and a 5.63 ERA.

He elected free agency on November 2, 2017.

On February 14, 2018, Santiago signed a minor-league deal with the Chicago White Sox.