10 pitchers who have surprised in 2015
By Jason Evans
Hector Santiago
As I talked about in the intro, teams need guys to come out of nowhere in order to compete. For the Los Angeles Angels, their starting pitching staff was hit hard early on. Jered Weaver missed time with injury. Garrett Richards was recovering from a gruesome knee injury last season.
The Angels needed someone to help and step up in their rotation. For the first half of the season, that guy was Hector Santiago.
Santiago was the other lefty the Angels got in their big three team deal before the 2014 season that saw Mark Trumbo go to Arizona and Adam Eaton go to the Chicago White Sox.
The main lefty was Tyler Skaggs who the Angels re-acquired. He found himself needing Tommy John surgery and missed all of this season.
Santiago was a main part of the Angels early success and why they find themselves in the thick of the playoff race. Santiago was one of the most unlikely All-Stars of the season.
His 0-4 August dampened things, but his first half was excellent, going 6-4 with a 2.38 ERA. In the eight wins he hast this season, he’s only given up five runs total in those games. When he’s on, he can be absolutely filthy from that left side. Opponents are hitting just .224 against him.
If the Angels are going to make a late charge, Santiago has to be a part of it and begin to rebound. Otherwise, this Cindrella story won’t have a happy ending.