Gregory

Santos

Santos was having velocity issues on his rehab assignment, which is why the Mariners were in no hurry to activated him. In his final appearance for Triple-A Tacoma on Saturday, he was down about 3-4 mph from where he was before going on the IL with biceps inflammation. He’ll probably pitch in low-leverage situations initially.

The good news is that Santos has pitched two scoreless innings on his rehab assignment as he recovers from biceps inflammation. The bad is that his velocity was off by about five mph last night, and it had Statcast classifying his fastballs as changeups.

This move seemed extremely likely after it was announced Wednesday that Santos was heading for an MRI exam on his injured biceps. No word yet on the severity of the issue or how long the M’s expect him to be shelved for. JT Chargois joined the team on Friday and will take Santos’ spot in the Mariners’ bullpen.

He’ll undergo an MRI exam to see exactly what’s going on there and to determine the severity of the injury. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him land on the injured list on Thursday regardless of the results of the imaging though, as the M’s are likely to take every possible precaution here.

Santos looked to be in obvious discomfort after striking out Dominic Smith in the eighth inning, prompting a visit from the training staff and his ultimate removal from the ballgame. It’s unclear if it’s related to lat issue that cost him the first four months of the season, the knee issue that he experienced recently or something entirely new and different. Expect the M’s to provide an update on his status as soon as more information becomes available.

The Mariners are now optimistic that Santos will be able to avoid a stint on the injured list and could even return to action as early as Saturday. He’ll go through a pregame workout on Friday and if all goes well he’ll be cleared to return to the M’s bullpen.

Santos had been out since the beginning of the spring with a lat strain, so bringing back after just two rehab appearances suggests some desperation from the Mariners. At least he was good in both appearances, allowing just one baserunner over a total of two innings. If he can stay healthy, he should turn into Seattle’s seventh- or eighth-inning guy in time.

Santos has been sidelined since spring training due to a right lat strain. The 24-yera-old right-hander is only expected to need a couple of appearances there before he’s ready to return to the Mariners’ bullpen. If all goes according to plan, he could be ready to return before the end of next week.

Santos is expected to head out on a minor league rehab assignment shortly afterwards, assuming he gets through Friday’s session without any issues. The 24-year-old high-leverage specialist has been on the shelf since spring training due to a lat issue.

Santos continues to progress towards making his Seattle debut after a spring training lat issue put him on the shelf to open the year. There’s a chance he’s ready to bolster the Mariners’ high-leverage relief mix at some point in a couple weeks, barring any setbacks.