Cleveland Guardians sign pitcher Enyel De Los Santos to minor-league deal

The Cleveland Guardians got in on the free-agent action before the lockout Wednesday, signing reliever Enyel De Los Santos to a minor-league deal.

The Cleveland Guardians placed their finger upon baseball’s hot stove ever so slightly Wednesday, signing reliever Enyel De Los Santos to a minor-league deal with an invite to spring training.

De Los Santos was a former 2019 Futures Game Participant and did strike out 48 batters in 35 1/3 innings last year splitting time between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The only problem is that he also had a 6.37 ERA, walking 18 and giving up eight home runs. His first two seasons in the majors weren’t much better, posting ERAs of 4.74 and 7.36 in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

But hey, at least this means the Guardians aren’t still sitting on the sidelines (Sandy León’s own minor-league deal notwithstanding). And when a guy like De Los Santos has a strikeout rate of nearly 30%, he’s worth inviting to spring training to see if he can figure out his command.

The 6’3″, 235-pound 25-year-old was most recently pitching in the Dominican Winter League and, for what it’s worth, he has not allowed a run in five innings of work, striking out thirteen batters in eight innings.

And now, the Guardians enter the long, dark winter of an MLB lockout, with only this signing to keep fans satiated for the time being.