Enyel De Los Santos may not be part of the Phillies’ plans

The numbers

5 G, 11 IP, 0-1 W-L, 7.36 ERA, 19.6 K%, 10.9 BB%, -0.2 fWAR

The good

De Los Santos had good strikeout numbers, and successfully closed out a win against the Nationals with two scoreless innings.

The bad

After a strong showing in the minors in 2018, EDLS began the 2019 season in AAA, but was believed to be one of the top backup options if any of the major league starters faltered. The starters certainly faltered, but the team seemed very reluctant to call upon him.

After working as a starter in the minors, he was brought up for two brief stints as a major league reliever. In late June, he was finally given a chance to start a game for the major league team, and it went poorly. He lasted just four innings in a loss to the Marlins.

Perhaps the back-and-forth transition from minor league starter to major league reliever early in the season hampered his development. After that ill-fated major league start, he spent the remainder of the season as a starter in Lehigh Valley, but he generally pitched poorly. He struck out a decent number of batters, but that was negated by a high number of walks and home runs allowed.

He also seemed to get worse as the season went along. He recorded a 6.38 ERA in five August starts, and the team declined to call him up when rosters expanded in September.

The future

De Los Santos will likely be a part of the Lehigh Valley rotation to start 2020. Perhaps he can work his way back into the club’s plans, but he will turn 24 in December, and may be running out of time.