A Enyel De Los Santos Turnaround Important For Astros Stretch Run

Enyel De Los Santo has struggled recently pitching to a 5.87 the last two months.

Houston Astros pitcher Enyel de Los Santos (65)Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Houston Astros reliever Enyel De Los Santos started the year as one of the most reliable pieces in the Astros bullpen. He has become a liability of late, with an ERA that’s rising fast.

De Los Santos is a journeyman breaking into the league in 2018 with the Phillies at the age of 22. The Astros are the eighth franchise he’s appeared in a major league game with in his career. He was released by the Atlanta Braves last season and picked up by the Astros. Last year, he posted a 4.02 ERA with the Astros in 22 appearances out of the bullpen. This season, De Los Santos had a 3.07 ERA on June 10. Since that day, De Los Santos has had a 5.87 ERA and over one negative win probability added (-1.257).

Sunday’s Poor Performance

His last time out was practically bad. The right-hander came in with a three-run lead and nobody on base. He allowed a single to Henry Bolte followed by a strikeout of Carlos Cortes. Things got much worse after that with a hit-by-pitch followed by a double and a single. Three runs came home for the Braves and De Los Santos was relieved by Kai-Wei Teng. Lucky for De Los Santos, Teng was able to keep the inherited runner from scoring.

It all amounted to 0.1 innings and three earned runs. All three balls that the Athletics put in play resulted in hits, implying a bit of bad luck for De Los Santos. All three hits were hit off the bat between 99 mph and 82 mph. Each had an expected batting average of less than .500, but they all managed to find holes. The Astros, who had been leading by six when the inning started, were now tied with the Athletics.

A Deeper Dive

Houston Astros pitcher Enyel de Los Santos (65) Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

This season, his advanced metrics are better than his standard numbers. He has a 3.50 FIP, which eliminates defense from the equation. His expected FIP comes out to 3.92. He has a 0.8 WAR on Fangraphs, which looks at FIP and not ERA. His Baseball Reference WAR is right at zero. His expected ERA is 3.38.

De Los Santos has gone from a reliable seventh-inning pitcher to one who is struggling to find his role on the team. Right now, De Los Santos is being used in medium-leverage situations, but that could change with a few more bad outings. With the Astros' starting pitching covering fewer and fewer innings, a player like De Los Santos is key to the Astros' division chase.