Jose De Los Santos (minors06)

Jose Luis De Los Santos

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 177 lb.

• High School Liceo Secondario Jesus Maestro

• Born February 17, 1985 in Santo Domingo Dominican Republic

BR Minors page

Jose De Los Santos signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates the day after his 19th birthday, relatively old for a Dominican signee.

De Los Santos hit .287/~.344/.322 with 29 steals in 52 games for the 2004 DSL Pirates; one of his teammates from 2004-2006 was a player with the same name, Jose De Los Santos, a fellow Dominican. The infielder Jose fell to .221/~.260/.321 for the '05 DSL Pirates with 19 swipes in 53 tries. He came stateside in 2006 with the GCL Pirates (.277/.341/.314, 18 SB in 23 tries in 44 games) and Williamsport Crosscutters (0 for 3).

In 2007, De Los Santos batted .224/.254/.240 as Hickory's backup shortstop; one of their other infielders was yet another Jose De Los Santos. Jose split 2008 between Hickory (.270/.341/.299) and the Lynchburg Hillcats (.233/.293/.286). He stole 28 bases, 4th among Pirate farmhands, but was gunned down running 20 times.

Moving from shortstop to second base (and some 3B and CF) for the 2009 Lynchburg Hillcats, De Los Santos batted .247/.295/.285 but stole 53 bases while only being caught 8 times. He was third in the Carolina League in steals that year. After not homering from 2006-2009, De Los Santos hit the walk-off homer that ended game two of the Carolina League finals to help Lynchburg win the title.