Los Angeles Dodgers prospect Dennis Santana was named Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the week for the time period of May 14-20, his first week with Triple-A Oklahoma City after being called up from Double-A Tulsa.
Santana’s debut with Oklahoma City was certainly a memorable one. He tossed six shutout innings while allowing just three hits and no walks and tying a career high with 11 strikeouts against the Nashville Sounds.
The 22-year-old signed with the Dodgers as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in March 2013 and has quickly developed into one of the organization’s top pitching prospects.
Santana earned the promotion after a strong start to the season with Tulsa, going 0-2 with a 2.56 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in eight starts. He had 51 strikeouts compared to 14 walks in 38.2 innings.
The Dodgers’ starting rotation has been dropping like flies in recent weeks, with Rich Hill, Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu all currently on the 10-day disabled list.
If more injuries were to occur and Santana continues to pitch as well as he has so far this season, it is not out of the question that he gets the call for his MLB debut some time soon.
Santana spent some time on the big league side of camp this past spring and impressed the Dodgers brass with his electric stuff.
