Article: Ervin Santana Suddenly Dominates In September

[Parker Hageman]

If the Minnesota Twins somehow miraculously find themselves in the postseason, they will have Ervin Santana’s month of September as a big reason for that.

 

Yes, it is crazy considering that by the end of August the fan base was ready to declare Santana’s signing a huge mistake. Over his first nine starts of the year, Santana owned a 5.53 ERA -- the sixth highest in baseball in that span. He had allowed 11 home runs -- tied for second-most in that time -- and he managed to strike out just 14% of batters he faced. In an instant, that all changed. Over the past 30 days Santana has the second lowest ERA (1.47) falling just behind the Cubs' Jake Arrieta (0.37), who has been pitching out of his mind this season.

 

 

In a matter of a few weeks, Santana has gone from a pariah to a savior. How did that happen?In late August, following a stretch of starts in which Santana allowed 25 runs over 24.2 innings and a sad 11-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio, Minnesota Twins pitching coach Neil Allen identified Santana’s compromised release point as the source for his struggles. He used some unorthodox drills in order to help Santana rediscover his natural release point. At Tropicana Field, the Pioneer Press’s Mike Berardino described the bullpen session:

“At Allen’s urging, Santana started with a drill in which he threw from behind the mound, landing on the upslope. Moving to the pitching rubber, Santana then bent down to backhand a few balls Allen rolled at him from a short distance.

 

Santana would then crow hop and fire to bullpen catcher Nate Dammann from the downslope of the mound.

 

Allen later stood perpendicular to the slab as Santana threw a handful of pitches from the top of the mound. Allen kept his back to the pitcher in a drill that seemed designed to keep Santana from falling off toward first base too violently.”

On his recent media tour including an in-game chat with Fox Sports North’s Dick Bremer and Bert Blyleven, Santana has been crediting that session as the reason for his turnaround late in the year. Over his 11 seasons at the major league level, Santana told the audience that he had never attempted any sort of drills like the one Allen put him through in Tampa.

 

Allen's choice of drills -- specifically the shortstop-ground ball drill -- appeared designed to help a problem with Santana’s struggles while pitching from the stretch. Prior to the session, Santana struggled mightily when throwing with runners on base, allowing seven home runs with runners on base. Essentially, he made every bad situation worse. However, after that session, Santana has limited the hard hit contact and has missed more bats.

 

Download attachment: Santana_Stretch.png

While there is little evidence of Santana’s vertical release point (height) changing much, PitchF/X data shows one major change he has made to his approach -- his horizontal release point is drastically different. Turns out, Santana has shifted from the third base side of the rubber to the first base side of the slab.

 

 

Download attachment: Snatana Rubber.png

 

While the narrative surrounding Santana has been focused on the bullpen session where Neil Allen taught him all the secrets of throwing good, the fact that Santana has made a tangible change in his approach has been wholly ignored or overlooked by the local media and hired baseball pundits. Meanwhile, GammonsDaily.com’s Alec Dopp astutely picked up on Santana’s mound changes and posted about them on September 15, showing visual stills of his new release and their implications. By BrooksBaseball.net’s database, as Dopp showed, Santana began throwing from the first base side of the rubber for his August 19 start in New York -- or about a week before his magical bullpen session with Allen.

 

Does repositioning on the mound really give a pitcher that much of an advantage?

 

Even adjusting a few inches on the pitching rubber can supply an entirely new angle for a the same old pitch -- it adds an element of deception, says Washington Nationals’ starter Doug Fister.

 

“Whether it’s my height, where I stand on the rubber, the sinker I throw, whatever it may be. Trying to deceive a hitter is what I’m trying to do, keep him off-balance,” Fister told the Washington Times. “So, if moving over a little bit can help just a fraction of an inch, then hey, I’m going to try to take as much benefit out of it as I can.”

 

Since repositioning towards the first base side of the rubber, Santana has seen an increase in swings-and-misses out of his slider, particularly on pitches located in the strike zone. His chase rate grew from 34% to 39%. His swinging strike rate on the pitch went from 17% to 22%. Opponents’ well-hit average went from .167 to .046. Perhaps the minor adjustment has added another element of difficulty to the pitch.

 

 

Download attachment: output_wzmhdv.gif

Then there is just a comfort level that moving a few steps over can provide to a pitcher. In Milwaukee, Brewers’ top prospect Taylor Jungmann cited his move from the first base side to the third base side in AA Nashville as one of the reasons he has had success in 2015.

 

“I can’t explain it but I started throwing more strikes. My mechanics were a little more fluid. I didn’t change a whole lot; I just moved to the other side of the rubber,” Jungmann told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “It felt natural. It made it a little easier to be consistent with my (pitching) motion. The biggest thing was getting my breaking ball back.”

 

Of course, it doesn’t always work for everybody. Back in 2012, then-Orioles pitcher Jake Arrieta explained to the mediahis logic as to why he went back to the first base side of the rubber after a tryst with the third base side. Going back to the first base side "[m]ade the pitches more effective because I could command them better. And the comfort level was much greater, much better. You need to find a delivery that you can repeat on every pitch.” Fast forward to 2015 and Arrieta is now one of the game’s best pitchers and uses the extreme third base side of the rubber to do all of his hurling.

 

The Nationals’ pitching coach Steve McCatty downplayed the effects of that type of adjustment saying “Can it have a major impact where you say, ‘Oh my God, we landed on the Moon?’ Some guys it does. But most of the time, it’s not a big deal.”

 

Did the shift have some game-changing effect on Santana’s pitching or was it Allen’s tutelage that helped revive his season? The answer is likely both. Santana’s shift may provide him with a more deceptive angle and comfort on the mound while Allen’s drills helped correct his release point and helped him to not fall off towards first as much. Either way, there is no denying how markedly different Santana has been since the end of August.

 

 

Naturally, the biggest disappointment is that if Santana somehow leads the team to the postseason because of his PED usage, he would be unable to participate in any games. Still, no matter how the remainder of the season plays out, Santana has rebounded nicely in this season and has given the Twins front office some reassurance that he can be a key component in next year’s rotation.

 

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[DaveW]

Great article as always.

Santana is definitely a bright spot to look forward to in 2016, if Hughes can bounce back healthy we have a pretty nice looking July 1st rotation going with:

Santana

Hughes

Duffey

Gibson

Berrios

[Foghorn Leghorn]

 

Great article as always.

Santana is definitely a bright spot to look forward to in 2016, if Hughes can bounce back healthy we have a pretty nice looking July 1st rotation going with:

Santana

Hughes

Duffey

Gibson

Berrios

Alex Meyer? What are we going to do with him?

 

[howieramone2]

 

Alex Meyer? What are we going to do with him?

I'm hoping once Berrios makes it to Target Field, Meyer becomes next man up.

[Parker Hageman]

Santana is definitely a bright spot to look forward to in 2016, if Hughes can bounce back healthy we have a pretty nice looking July 1st rotation going with:

Santana

Hughes

Duffey

Gibson

Berrios

 

 

I would bet that's how the season finishes up but I get the impression the Twins love to have a lefty in the rotation -- I can see Milone starting after camp. 

 

[DaveW]

 

I would bet that's how the season finishes up but I get the impression the Twins love to have a lefty in the rotation -- I can see Milone starting after camp. 

Yeah, that was the July 1st thought. Berrios won't break camp with the club and the 5th spot will likely goto Milone or Nolasco IMO.

[DaveW]

 

 

Alex Meyer? What are we going to do with him?

Bullpen.

[Parker Hageman]

 

Yeah, that was the July 1st thought. Berrios won't break camp with the club and the 5th spot will likely goto Milone or Nolasco IMO.

 

Man. Always forgettin about Nolasco. I think the likelihood is low but there's probably a chance that they start with both Milone/Nolasco (love them some veterans) and have Duffey/Berrios in Rochester. Ugh. I feel gross. Need to take a shower.

[Dantes929]

Help me understand the logic or sequence  here.    Santana moved to the 1st base side on August 19th.   The next 10 innings he pitched he gave up 9 runs.   Then the magical ( I noted some sarcasm there) bullpen session and since then he has given up 7 runs in 43 innings but you still credit the move to the 1st base side as the  more significant event?    I don't know if the vertical release point changed much but if it kept him from falling off to the first base side it makes sense that he is more balanced and throwing from a more solid core base.    The fact that it directly followed the bullpen session rather than the move on the rubber tells me the bullpen session was more significant.

[DaveW]

 

Man. Always forgettin about Nolasco. I think the likelihood is low but there's probably a chance that they start with both Milone/Nolasco (love them some veterans) and have Duffey/Berrios in Rochester. Ugh. I feel gross. Need to take a shower.

Berrios in AAA is fine, if you are going to refuse to bring him up during Sept, you might as well keep him down another month or two to start the season to save the money.

Duffey- Assuming he doesn't fall apart the rest of this season, gets injured or just has an absolutely dreadfull ST (Like 10+ ERA dreadfull) there is zero reason why he shouldn't be in the opening day rotation. If the Twins make the playoffs he is arguably our best playoff SP.

[Parker Hageman]

Help me understand the logic or sequence  here.  Santana moved to the 1st base side on August 19th. The next 10 innings he pitched he gave up 9 runs. Then the magical ( I noted some sarcasm there) bullpen session and since then he has given up 7 runs in 43 innings but you still credit the move to the 1st base side as themore significant event?

 

 

It's about process. Things that are incorporated right away into the game (new pitches, mechanics, swings, etc) don't necessarily make an impact immediately. As I mentioned, I think it is a combination of both but no one seems to be mentioning the tangible, physical change of providing a different angle to the hitter. Both are substantial but oddly, only one has been reported/discussed.  

 

 

 

[jimbo92107]

Angular parallax! By moving to the left side of the pitching rubber, Ervin Santana minimized the hitter's perception of each pitch's visual sweep from Santana's right to his left. His release point is more centered, thus making it harder to perceive the trajectory of the ball relative to the plate, which makes it harder to judge speed and distance. With reduced visual cues, hitters are more easily fooled, as each pitch appears headed down the middle for a longer time.

 

Who knew Neil Allen had such a solid grasp of astronomy? He made Ervin Santana into a star!   ;-)

[Rosterman]

The thing is, at this point you don't even need to add Berrios to the 40-man roster. 

 

Meyer and May are still in the wings.

 

Names like Dean and Rogers are also in the mix. And then you have the next wave (return of Wimmers, Baxendale, Stewart amongst others, but still not up until 2017 at the earliest.)

 

And we always have the injury factor.

 

Be interesting to see who the Twins sign for free agents (minor leagues) a la Boyer, Stauffer and the ink.

 

 

[kab21]

The pitchforks came out way too early regarding Santana.  I was surprised that the Twins didn't start him in the minors for a couple of weeks instead of throwing him into the rotation ice cold.  I was not surprised that he struggled.

 

It would be disappointing if May isn't given the chance to start.

 

Santana

Hughes

Gibson

 

Competition

May

Duffey

Milone - preferably the long man in the bullpen that gets 2-3 innings/game so he could start on short notice.

Berrios - ticketed to AAA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nolasco

 

Edited October 3, 2015 by kab21

[Linus]

The pitchforks came out way too early regarding Santana. I was surprised that the Twins didn't start him in the minors for a couple of weeks instead of throwing him into the rotation ice cold. I was not surprised that he struggled.

 

It would be disappointing if May isn't given the chance to start.

 

Santana

Hughes

Gibson

 

Competition

May

Duffey

Milone - preferably the long man in the bullpen that gets 2-3 innings/game so he could start on short notice.

Berrios - ticketed to AAA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nolasco

Just a note of clarification. They couldn't send him down without subjecting him to waivers. TD posters want to blame everyone under the sun for critical losses but if Santana had not been suspended, the Twins likely are several wins ahead.

[kab21]

I don't think that is true.  I think suspended players can be sent on rehab assignments for a couple of weeks following their suspension.  They may or may not need to consent to this though.

 

this is not directly from the CBA but a second site's interpretation - http://www.thecubreporter.com/book/export/html/3506
 

 

Prior to being reinstated, an MLB player who is on the Restricted List as the result of a suspension related to a violation of the ban on the use of a prohibited substance may consent to an assignment to a minor league affiliate of his club for no more than five days (eight days for pitchers) if the player is serving a suspension of 25 games or less, or for no more than ten days (15 days for pitchers) if the player is serving a suspension greater than 25 games.