Rule 5 Draft Prospect Profile: Santiago Florez
It is a fact of life that not every prospect who comes into the Minor Leagues will make it to the Major Leagues. Some just don't have what it takes to make the Major Leagues and others are moved to other teams through trades. When this happens at the upper levels of the Minor Leagues, it can open a hole for a player who may still be in A-Ball or Rookie Ball. When the Pittsburgh Pirates made trades that sent Austin Meadows, Shane Baz, and Taylor Hearn to other organizations, one pitcher took advantage. RHP Santiago Florez took advantage of those moves moving into the Pirate's top 30 prospect list. Now, he is the Pirate's #19 Overall prospect entering 2021, and is trying to leave the Rookie Ball ranks this season.
Flores came to the Pirates from Columbia and signed his first professional contract at just 17-years old. When he signed, he was a pretty raw talent and the Pirates knew there were some things to work out before he could advance. However, he has spent the last three years heading through the Pirates Rookie Leagues and looks to make that next jump to Class-A Ball in 2021. Had it not been for the cancellation of the Minor League 2020 season, we could have got the chance to see a lot more of Florez in Short-Season or Low-A Ball and it would have helped his stock for his first year of Rule 5 Draft eligibility. His control has been a little issue throughout his career, but he has shown an ability to miss bats, making him a possible target for other teams.
The Journey to Becoming a Top Prospect
Santiago Florez's journey to professional baseball wasn't an easy one. He grew up in Barranquilla, Columbia, and had been playing baseball since he was a child. He was always one of the bigger kids among his peers and used his body size to be one of the fastest pitchers among his peers. With his fastball reaching into the low 90s as a teenager, professional scouts started to take notice of the tall pitcher. He still had room to grow and the Pittsburgh Pirates were the team to help him do it. When he signed, he was 6'5 and about 170 pounds, and the Pirates knew with some development and growth he could be a dominant pitcher. He signed a $150,000 solar signing bonus with the Pirates hoping he would fill out his big frame and become a dominant pitcher.
He began his professional baseball career with the Dominican Summer League Pirates and made 14 starts his first season. He didn't overwhelm anyone and put up pretty middle of the road numbers going 2-5 with a 4.45 ERA in 54.1 innings of work. His biggest issue during the season was his control numbers. He walked 15.5% of the batters he faced and struck out just over 12% of batters. He was still learning his arsenal, but one of the positives was his ability to miss bats. Opponents hit just .222 off of his during his first season and he allowed just 11 extra-base hits all year. His best stretch of the season came in August where he pitched to a 4.41 ERA and allowed just one earned run in three of his final four outings.
2018 saw Florez move to the states, pitching in the Gulf Coast League for the Pirates. Florez drastically improved going 5-2 with a 4.15 ERA over 43.1 innings of work in 10 starts. He continued to miss opponents' bats at a high rate allowing an opponent batting average of .230, and he raised his strikeout rate to just over 18%. He began to work deeper into games, lasting five innings or more six times and added the first two shutouts of his career on August 3rd and August 9th. The now 18-year-old was starting to make waves in the Pirates Minor League system and cracked the Pirates Baseball America Top-30 prospect list at #30 for the first time in his young professional career.
With the new top prospect status by his name, Florez would move to the Appalachian League with the former Bristol Pirates. It was Florez's best season yet as he went 2-2 with a 3.46 ERA in 10 starts. Florez's fastball was now hitting in the mid-90s and he had filled out to 6'5, 222 pounds, in three seasons. He still wasn't striking out batters at a very high rate, but he was able to keep the ball on the ground with a groundball rate of 44%. He only allowed more than three earned runs one time all season and his walk numbers continued to drop as he walked 21 batters in 40.1 innings of work. Florez was set to finally make the jump to A-Ball in 2020, but the shutdown ended up putting those plans on hold. He is now the Pirate's #19 overall prospect and is looking to show how Rookie Ball has helped him for the future of his professional career.
Highest Ranking Prospect Available
Of the 37 players, the Pirates have eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this year, Santiago Florez is the highest-ranking one. He is also one of the only ones who have not finished rookie ball, which would cut him out from the Major League portion of the Rule 5 Draft. However, in the Minor League portion of the draft, he could be a very enticing option. He is a big pitcher who can ramp it up as high as 96 miles per hour. And, at 20-years old, there is still plenty of room for Florez to develop and become a true power starting pitcher. If the Pirates can hold onto him, he is going to be a pitcher to watch as he rises through the Minor League system.
In 2021, look for Florez to head to Low-A Greensboro with a chance to possibly see action with Advanced-A Bradenton by season's end. The big thing that Florez needs to work on to make it to that next level is his control. That has been his one big flaw throughout his career, and if he can control his pitches that will make him that much more deadly on the mound. His ability to keep the ball on the ground will be an asset for him moving forward as he is beginning to develop into a pitch-to-contact pitcher. Despite the high velocity, he isn't getting very many strikeouts, but he is working on developing a slider and a change-up that will complement his arsenal. With those two pitches working, Florez is well on his way to hopefully making it to Pittsburgh in the near future.
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