Jays finally get their man

DALLAS – Back in 2007, some player development executives with the Toronto Blue Jays approached Sergio Santos with a question.

What, they asked, did he think of perhaps converting to a pitcher?

The shortstop, a 2002 first-round pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks, was in the midst of a 20-homer season with the double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats and told them he wasn’t ready to give up on his dream of reaching the big-leagues as a position player.

Still, he got up on a mound and threw for a bit, leaving everyone impressed, though nothing came of it.

The next year Santos was claimed off waivers by the Minnesota Twins, he signed with the Chicago White Sox as a minor-league free agent in January 2009 and was at a career crossroads that spring after director of player development Buddy Bell suggested once again he take the pitching route.

"It’s funny, I asked him a flat out question when he presented it to me, I said, ‘Look if my last name wasn’t Santos and it was Bell and I was your son, what would you do?’" Santos recalled Tuesday, mere hours after the Toronto Blue Jays picked him up from the White Sox for pitching prospect Nestor Molina.

"And he said, ‘Son of a gun, you know what, I’d tell you not to pitch, I would tell you to continue position playing because I know the odds aren’t great.’ By him giving me that honest answer, I knew they had my best interests at heart so if they needed me to make that transition as a pitcher, I’d go back to the White Sox."

Santos was soon traded to the San Francisco Giants, where he hoped to remain an everyday player. Instead, they wanted to use him in a utility role and 11 days later he was back in the White Sox system, learning to become a pitcher.

At age 25, he scooted through four levels of the minors in ‘09, finishing the year at triple-A Charlotte with a total of 28.2 innings pitched over 26 games.

The next year he broke camp with the White Sox, took over as their closer in 2011, and is now the man the Blue Jays are counting on to lock down games for them.

"It’s a remarkable story when you think of a position player to make that quick of a transition," said Blue Jays manager John Farrell. "To have the dominating stuff as he does, power arm with a well above average slider, and you look at the strikeout rates, if you try to draw up a profile, this is the type of stuff you’re looking to put in the ninth inning."

The trade came as a shock to Santos, who signed a contract extension that guarantees him US$7.5 million in salary plus $2.25 million more if all three of his club options for 2015-17 are declined.

That left him thinking his future was set with the White Sox, even with GM Kenny Williams embarking on what he termed Tuesday as "rebuilding."

Santos wasn’t going to be part of that until Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos and Williams sat down Monday night and hammered out the one-for-one deal. It took "about 85 no’s" before Anthopoulos finally managed to get his man.

"It was definitely a shock at first, but the writing was on the wall as far as Chicago’s stance, kind of what they were going to do," said Santos. "I didn’t think I was going to be part of those plans, but here I am and I’m excited to be with a new team and going in the direction Toronto’s going in."

Santos remains friends with several Blue Jays from his time in the Toronto system, including J.P. Arencibia, Ricky Romero, and Adam Lind. He was also tight with hitting coach Dwayne Murphy, and is looking forward to reuniting with him.

He brings some serious heat to the mound, and struck out 13.1 batters per nine innings last season and had a tiny WHIP of 1.105 while saving 30 games. Those are big numbers, but he’s far from a finished product.

"I think everything is off my fastball," he said. "In order for me to have an effective slider, I have to be locating my fastball in and out consistently to put that in hitters’ minds.

"I do have a good changeup, I would need to be more consistent with it, that’s something I’m going to really work on this year to take my game to the next level."

Shi Davidi is the MLB Insider for sportsnet.ca. Come back to read his insight and opinion regularly.