Taking A Time Out Serves De Los Santos
A two-week stay on the development list seemingly turned around 20-year-old third baseman Deyvison De Los Santos’ season.
After hitting just .207/.269/.308 with a 26% strikeout rate through 63 games for Double-A Amarillo, De Los Santos took a two-week pause.
He returned on July 14 and hit .329/.361/.532 with 23% strikeouts in his first 20 games following a stint at the club’s complex in Arizona. He had totaled 10 home runs through 83 games overall.
“I think being young and really struggling for the first time, I think he started to press,” D-backs farm director Josh Barfield said, “and that led to trying to do too much, and that led to his swing and approach getting out of whack.
“Toward the end of the first half, watching the at-bats, it didn’t look like the De Los that we know.”
The D-backs brought De Los Santos to Salt River Fields to work in their newly constructed lab with hitting coaches Nick Evans and Drew Hedman. Barfield said part of the focus was on getting him to tone down his load. It had gotten too big and rotational, forcing him to make swing decisions earlier than necessary.
“He has ridiculous power and sometimes that gets him in trouble,” Barfield said. “He tries to hit a ball 500 feet instead of hitting a hard line drive. If he hits it on his barrel, it’s going to be 100 (mph)-plus.
“He doesn’t need to try to generate extra power. We felt like that was what he was trying to do with that bigger move.”
Barfield said De Los Santos has a tendency to tinker. The D-backs hope that as he matures, he will find consistency in his approach, stance and swing that lead to more consistent results.
“I think he’s learned a lot about himself and how to handle struggles,” Barfield said, “so he’ll be better prepared for it the next time he goes through it.”
—NICK PIECORO
De Avila Makes Strides With Braves
Double-A Mississippi lefthander Luis De Avila has built a case as one of the more promising pitchers in a depleted Braves farm system.
The 22-year-old has taken an unconventional route to this point.
The Rockies signed De Avila out of Colombia in 2017. Two years later, he was released after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.
He returned to pitching in 2021 with the Royals—but only after missing another campaign due to the pandemic—and posted a 5.16 ERA in 24 appearances at Low-A Columbia.
Since the Braves took De Avila in the minor league phase of the 2021 Rule 5 draft, he has shown life. He spent last season with High-A Rome, recording a 3.49 ERA that was best in the South Atlantic League. He struck out 129 in 126.1 innings.
This season, De Avila’s encouraging trends
