Potential Breakout Star: Astros’ Under-the-Radar Shines in AFL

The Houston Astros hired Dana Brown as their general manager in large part to rebuild their depleted farm system that was never revitalized after their Golden Era of prospects reached the Majors.

Once it was clear the Astros were perennial contenders every year, past front offices threw caution to the wind and shipped out multiple rising stars to add established pieces who could help them win right now.

While that resulted in a modern day American League dynasty and two World Series titles, the bill of not having young, MLB-ready prospects seems like it’s on the verge of becoming due.

Houston can thwart that by continuing to develop their minor leaguers at an elite rate and hoping they can exceed the projections originally placed on them, and based on what is taking place at the Arizona Fall League this year, that could be happening with one of their starting pitchers.

Joe Trezza of MLB.com highlighted the top performers from Week 5 of the AFL, and he listed Alex Santos II as someone who turned heads with three no-hit innings and four strikeouts.

“The 22-year-old righty has been one of the more consistent arms in Arizona this fall, and he earned placement on this list once again with another breezy outing, logging three perfect innings in his Nov. 5 start against Peoria. Santos has racked up 20 strikeouts across 14 1/3 innings in his five Fall League outings, three of which were starts,” he writes.

That is huge for the Astros.

Santos is not ranked within the top 30 of Houston’s pipeline, and to this point, he hasn’t shown a whole lot of promise during his minor league career.

The former 72nd overall pick of the 2020 draft has an ERA of 6.06 across his 66 outings and 38 starts, struggling to find the strike zone with a ridiculouts 145 walks in 230.1 innings pitched. While his strikeout numbers sit at 268, his WHIP is 1.64.

Injuries limited him last year to just six outings, so it’s a great sign to see him perform well at the AFL while facing so many talented prospects from other farm systems around the league.

Santos might never become a top-of-the-line starter for the Astros during his career, but if he can build upon this performance he’s turning in, then he could be an option in their rotation or bullpen at some point.