Sergio Santos starting to show signs of life in Buffalo

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Feb 24, 2013; Dunedin, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Sergio Santos (21) throws against the Baltimore Orioles during the top of the third inning of a spring training game at Florida Auto Exchange Park. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

It’s been quite a stint that Sergio Santos has had so far for the Toronto Blue Jays. Since being acquired from the Jays in December 2011 via a trade with the Chicago White Sox, Santos has appeared in 9.1 innings total.

He’s been on the disabled list officially this year since April 14th and finally showed signs of life on Thursday night in Buffalo. Santos struck out the side on Thursday July 18 and after concerns with his velocity of late he appears to regaining some juice, at least according to everyone’s favourite Buffalo Bisons radar gun tweeter Clint (@StivBators):

So after struggling to break 90 MPH the last time he took to the hill (at least according to minor league radar guns and Dunedin Blue Jays broadcasters) it appears Santos might be in a little bit better shape than some of us may have thought. Twelve of his twenty pitches were called for strikes on Thursday.

My buddies and I were talking about the new weighted ball program that the Blue Jays have added to their regiment last night. It’s amazing that something like this has become casual conversation among Jays fans. But we are all were pretty optimistic about what it could do to help better maintain the health of Toronto’s pitching. Apparently, Santos is a believer as well based on his encouraging quote from John Lott’s National Post article on June 13:

"“A big plus for me was seeing Dustin McGowan – seeing everything that he has been going through and coming back from injuries and finally started feeling well” – Santos"

As far as health goes, Santos and McGowan are starting to show some disturbing similarities at least as far as missed time goes. But after serious concerns about how close Santos was to being back in a Toronto Blue Jays major league uniform, it appears for now there are some positive signs to build on when it comes to the battered Blue Jays reliever.