D-backs Top 40 Prospects in 2024: No. 34 Ruben Santana

Ruben Santana had a tough season in 2024, resulting in a drop in his prospect ranking

Visalia's Ruben Santana plays against San Jose Giants on Tuesday, April 9, 2024 for their opening home game. / Ron Holman / Visalia Times-Delta / USA TODAY NETWORK

This article is part of a series reviewing the seasons of the top 40 prospects still in the Arizona Diamondbacks system as of the end of 2024.

Ruben Santana RHB/3B, DOB 2/16/2005, 6'0", 190

Acquired: 2022 International Signing

Ruben Santana was signed by the Diamondbacks in 2022. Hailing from El Seibo, Dominican Republic, he made an immediate impact as a 17-year-old in the Dominican Summer League. Batting .316 and posting an .872 OPS, Santana had a 15% walk rate against just a 20% strikeout rate

While he only homered one time, his power tool projection to go with a rocket arm induced the team to bring him stateside in 2023. Playing in the Arizona Complex League he continued to impress, again batting .316 with an .875 OPS. His 12 doubles, four triples and four homers in 187 at-bats led to a healthy .487 slugging percentage.

While scouts still had some questions about his hit tool, this performance, his power projection and throwing arm earned him the No. 22 prospect ranking from Arizona Diamondbacks ON SI at the end of the 2023 season. Deemed ready for full season ball, Santana was sent to Class-A Visalia for 2024.

Santana began the 2024 season with five multi-hit games out of his first 12. Going 14-for-46, .304 overall, he seemed on his way to a breakout season. While he hadn't homered, he knocked two doubles and three triples. He had a .452 BABIP however, indicating some luck on balls in play to that point, and his strikeout rate had jumped as well.

Then the slump began, and it was a long one. Pitchers in the California League figured out his aggressive approach and gave him a steady diet of off-speed stuff. Over his next 70 games, Santana hit just .188/.290/.236 while hitting just two homers and striking out a whopping 83 times.

He pulled out of that slump finally in August. From August 2 through 29, a span of 17 games, he went 18-for-57, .316, with three doubles, a triple and a homer. He walked 16 times, but the strikeouts persisted, with 19. Santana hit just .179 in September however, unable to keep the momentum going forward.

His final season batting line in106 games, 454 PA was .219/.328/.305. That translated to just a 76 wRC+ or roughly 24% below league average. Santana homered just four times and had just a .086 ISO (Isolated power = Slugging- Batting Avg). The expected power output never materialized while the hit tool evaporated. While he walked a more than respectable 13% of the time, his K rate zoomed to 27%.

There are other negative indicators in his batted ball profile. His ground ball rate jumped to 52% (anything above 45% is starting to edge to the high side). Even more concerning, his Infield Fly per Fly Ball rate (IFFB), was 20%. That's twice the MLB average of 10%.

Simply put, the combination of strikeouts, ground balls, and popups tanked his season and prevented him from getting to his power. The down season resulted in his prospect ranking falling all the way to 34.

2025 Outlook

Santana will be entering his age-20 season in 2025. Last year he was two years younger than league average player in the California League. There is still plenty of time for him to figure it out. The walk rate indicates that he was trying to become more selective at the plate.

Pitch recognition is a lot more than just taking walks though. Santana needs to learn what pitches in which locations he can handle, and then put a good swing on those pitches, even if early in the count. That pitch recognition can only come with experience.

Look for Santana to return to Visalia to start 2025. He'll need to hit his way out of that level to get to High-A Hillsboro next year and get his career moving again. The raw tools still exist, and there is always a good chance he can do just that.