Tony Santillan

Santillan finished second among relief pitchers with a career-high 80 appearances in 2025 and ranked third with 33 holds. The 28-year-old was the highest-leveraged reliever in Cincinnati's bullpen as measured by Win Probability Added (2.33) and Game Leverage Index (1.56). However, the highlights of Santillan's 2025 campaign end there. The right-hander had one of the largest discrepancies between ERA (2.44) and expected ERA (4.34) among relievers at -1.90. His average exit velocity allowed (91.8 mph) was one of the worst marks in baseball (2nd percentile) and his 24.9 percent strikeout rate was 2.5 percentage points below his career average. Despite these red flags, Santillan managed to remain one of Terry Francona's go-to relievers in the late-innings; a role he figures to retain to open 2026. Read Past Outlooks