Valerio de los Santos

Valerio de los Santos
De los Santos in 2009.
Long Island Ducks
Pitcher
Born: October 6, 1972 (1972-10-06) Las Matas de Farfan, Dominican Republic
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
MLB debut
July 31, 1998 for the Milwaukee Brewers
Career statistics (through 2010 season)
Win-Loss	9-13
Earned run average	4.57
Strikeouts	207
Teams
Milwaukee Brewers (1998-2003) Philadelphia Phillies (2003) Toronto Blue Jays (2004) Florida Marlins (2005) Colorado Rockies (2008) New York Mets (2009) Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions (2009-2010)

Valerio Lorenzo de los Santos (born October 6, 1972 in Las Matas de Farfan, San Juan, Dominican Republic) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who is currently playing for the independent Long Island Ducks.

De los Santos pitched in the major leagues from 1998-2005 for the Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, and Florida Marlins. On July 9, 2005, pitching in the 9th inning against the Chicago Cubs, de los Santos hit Adam Greenberg directly in the back of his head with a 91 mile per hour fastball on the very first pitch of the plate appearance. "The first thing going through your mind is, 'This guy's dead,'" de los Santos said. Greenberg, suffered a mild concussion as a result of the beaning, and still suffers from positional vertigo. To present, Greenberg's major league career consists only of this single plate appearance against de los Santos.

De los Santos pitched for the Sultanes de Monterrey of the Mexican League in 2007. De los Santos signed a minor league contract with the Colorado Rockies in January 2008. After starting the year with the Triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox, he was called up on July 28, 2008. He was designated for assignment on August 4 and became a free agent at the end of the season.

In January 2009, he signed a minor league contract with the New York Mets. He was released on March 25 after being cut from spring training.

On March 10, 2011, De Los Santos signed a contract with the Long Island Ducks. Meanwhile, Adam Greenberg the batter who was hit by Santos was playing for the rival Bridgeport Bluefish for several years and the two had never played in the same professional league together since the beaning incident. In 2011 there were several opportunities presented where the two would face each other for the first time since then. On 4/29/2011 Greenberg singled in his first at bat against Santos in Bridgeport. All told, they faced off in a total of four games with Greenberg going hitless in his seven subsequent at bats with two strikeouts throughout the course of the 2011 season.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube