Mariners Major Trade Acquisition Wows in First Rehab Appearance

Pitching for the first time this season, Seattle Mariners' reliever Gregory Santos really impressed in his one inning of work at Triple-A Tacoma on Tuesday night.

Chicago White Sox relief pitcher Gregory Santos (60) reacts after a play during the sixth inning against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park in 2023. / Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

While the Seattle Mariners were unfortunately losing for the ninth time in 12 games at the major league level on Tuesday night, they did get some great news down on the farm as a result of reliever Gregory Santos's first rehab appearance of the season.

Santos, who was acquired this past offseason in a big trade with the Chicago White Sox, threw a scoreless inning while pitching for Triple-A Tacoma. He's been out since spring training because of a lat issue. This was his first live game action of the year.

Per a report from Rainiers' broadcaster Mike Curto:

Mariners reliever Gregory Santos pitches a scoreless inning of relief, allowing a single. FB 97-99, cutter 87-90, threw strikes.

One poor guy tried to bunt a 99 mph fastball and fouled it into his own face, had to leave the game.

Mariners reliever Gregory Santos pitches a scoreless inning of relief, allowing a single. FB 97-99, cutter 87-90, threw strikes.

One poor guy tried to bunt a 99 mph fastball and fouled it into his own face, had to leave the game.

— Mike Curto (@CurtoWorld) July 3, 2024

The popular @MiLBMariners account posted some video of his appearance as well:

Gregory Santos 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, K, 2 groundouts. https://t.co/Z6yFbfbnWr

— Mariners Minors (@MiLBMariners) July 3, 2024

There has been hope that Santos will be able to join the team in July and this is a good start toward making that a reality. However, he'll still have several boxes to check. For starters, he'll have to show he can recover from this outing. Then, he'll have to eventually show he can work on back-to-back days.

If and when he arrives in Seattle, he'll offer manager Scott Servais another leverage arm in the back end of the bullpen. He should pair with Andres Munoz to make one of the more dyanmic late-game tandems in baseball.

The Mariners will play the Orioles again on Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. PT.

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