Reid - A Closer in the Making?

There is nothing all that impressive on first glance at Reid Santos. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound pitcher from Wahiana, Hawaii, could easily be lost in a crowd of teenagers at the mall if he wasn't careful.

However, what makes Santos stand out on the baseball field is the fact that the unseemly kid simply gets the job done.

Aeros manager Tim Bogar admitted recently he isn't quite sure how Santos does it either, except that everytime he calls the quiet lefty from the bullpen, he not only gets a crucial left-handed hitter out, but tends to be equally effective against right-handers as well.

"His changeup makes him a good commodity against right-handed hitters, so he can be more than a left-handed matchup guy,'' Bogar said.

In the Aeros first game of a double header sweep Monday in Binghamton, Santos came on for the last two outs of the game to earn his second save of the season.

Three days earlier, he helped rescue closer Bubbie Buzachero after the veteran right-hander allowed visiting Harrisburg to come back and tie the game with four runs on five hits in an eighth-inning rally.

Now with two saves to his credit, many are wondering if Santos shouldn't be closing all of the Aeros close games - a concept Bogar said he'd heard tossed around the dugout recently.

"I don't think we know what we want to do with Reid yet,'' Bogar said. "He's one of those guys who snuck up on us last year and now he's here doing it again.''

I'd like to see Santos at least get a shot.