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As expected, Santillan will require surgery to address a labral tear in his left hip. There’s a chance that his rehabilitation process stretches into next spring. There should be a definitive return timetable following the procedure.

It’s Santillan’s second IL stint of the year, as he missed mostly of July and August with an oblique strain. With his velocity down about two mph from the previous couple of seasons, the 29-year-old Santillan concludes the year with a 6.42 ERA in 40 2/3 innings. That would seem to make him a non-tender candidate this winter.

He’ll return to the late game Reds bullpen group. Santillan may still have saves ahead of him if Emilio Pagán falters again, but it appears unlikely at this point. The 29-year old returns to a 5.23 ERA in 31 innings with the Reds so far this season.

Santillan’s velocity in his second rehab outing was down about 1.5 mph on his fastball and three mph on his slider from where he was before landing on the IL with an oblique strain in late June. Still, the Reds probably won’t wait much longer to activate him.

It’s been a rough season for Santillan, who has a 5.23 ERA in 31 innings for the Reds. He had been pitching slightly better in June and had taken over the role as the primary closer with three saves in the month. It’s hard to say who may take the ninth-inning duties now because the Reds’ bullpen has been so poor, but Tejay Antone has the next highest game leverage index in June, and he also has a 0.69 ERA in 13 innings across 11 appearances this month, so maybe he’s worth the gamble.

Santillan is a difficult guy to trust with his nine homers surrendered on the season and 5.10 ERA, but he has earned saves in three straight appearances and has turned in seven scoreless innings since giving up three runs in a loss on June 3. He had an easy one today, though Amed Rosario and Anthony Volpe both had sharp lineouts to center in the ninth. He will need Monday off after this, so perhaps Tejay Antone could close then.

Santillan got the call to protect a two-run lead against the heart of New York’s order and managed to work around a one-out single by Juan Soto to preserve the victory. He’s picked up the last two saves for Cincinnati and appears to be their preferred ninth-inning option with Emilio Pagán (hamstring) on the shelf.

Santillan was summoned to close out the game against the Diamondbacks with a one-run lead in the ninth. He worked a clean inning, inducing three straight groundouts to end the game with just his third save of the season to go with an underwhelming 5.67 ERA across 27 innings.

Working with a 6-3 lead in the ninth, Santillan gave up a walk and a single with one out. He then retired Sandy León, who had already replaced Chadwick Tromp behind the plate and thus couldn’t realistically been lifted for a pinch-hitter. That brought up Ronald Acuña Jr., however, and an RBI single followed. Lefty Sam Moll took over at that point and walked Michael Harris II before retiring Matt Olson on a groundout. It went as Moll’s first save and Santillan’s 11th hold. Santillan still looks like the favorite for saves in Cincinnati with Graham Ashcraft and Pierce Johnson joining Emilio Pagán on the injured list, but he just hasn’t impressed of late. Terry Francona won’t like it, but he’ll probably have to do some mixing and matching.

José Fermín started the ninth with a homer that made it a one-run game. After that came a walk to Victor Scott II, a two-out walk to Alex Burleson and a game-tying single from Jordan Walker. It’s Santillan’s third blown save, and it bodes particularly poorly for him that both Graham Ashcraft (1 2/3 scoreless) and Pierce Johnson (scoreless 10th and 11th innings and a win) did very well tonight. It may be some time before Santillan gets another save chance.

Santillan got Trea Turner to hit a foul popup and then struck out Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm in his first one-two-three inning since Apr. 18. He entered tonight with a 16.62 ERA and five homers allowed in 4 1/3 innings this month, making it pretty surprising that Terry Francona saved him for the ninth. Since it worked, consider Santillan to be in the driver’s seat for saves in Cincinnati, at least until he blows another one.

Two singles, followed by two homers. Santillan came into the game with a 2.87 ERA in 15 2/3 innings, but his velocity is down 2.3 mph from last year and he’s been walking too many batters. For Santillan to have this outing on the heels of Graham Ashcraft’s blown save Thursday suggests that things are not going to be OK for the Reds bullpen while Emilio Pagán is out. This does really make Ashcraft look the better fantasy bet going forward, though.

Santillan gave up a long homer to Michael Busch to tie the game. However, he still has a nice 2.87 ERA on the season, and he figures to be the choice to close for the Reds with Pagán almost certainly IL bound. Maybe Graham Ashcraft would get a shot if Santillan blew one of his first opportunities.

Emilio Pagán shook off his hamstring issue to pitch last night, but the Reds apparently weren’t willing to use him on back-to-back days just yet. That got Santillan his first save in 2026 after he earned seven last year. He’s yet to allow a run in 10 innings this season, and he’d be in line to close if Pagán loses the job at some point.

Santillan was finally able to put in a full season for the Reds in 2025 and had a 2.44 ERA in 73 2/3 innings out of the pen. His total of 40 saves (seven) plus holds (33) was tied with Robert Suarez (40 saves) for third in the majors behind Abner Uribe (seven saves, 37 holds) and Carlos Estévez (42 saves). He’ll again be penciled into a setup role in front of Emilio Pagán this year.

Both Santillan and Emilio Pagán pitched Friday and Saturday, but Santillan had the easier outings, throwing a total of 22 pitches, and thus was available today, whereas Pagán, who totaled 31 pitches, apparently wasn’t. Santillan walked two and threw 23 pitches before finishing off the Cubs, so he will need some rest after this one. Fortunately, the Reds have Monday off before a home series against the Pirates.

With Emilio Pagan having pitched on both Monday and Tuesday and in four of the Reds’ last five games, the team went to Santillan with a one-run lead in the ninth. He allowed a lead-off double to Gavin Sheets to make things nerve-racking, but he could retire the next three batters to come out unscathed. There’s no closer controversy in Cincinnati, but Santillan has six saves and has been an elite setup man this season.