Next up on our list is a left-handed pitcher.
Name: Jonathan Santucci
Position: LHP
Born: 12/28/2002
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 205 lbs.
Bats/Throws: L/L
Acquired: 2024 MLB Draft, 2nd Round (Duke University)
2024 Stats: DNP
Jonathan Santucci comes from an athletic family. His father, Steven, attended Assumption College and played baseball there from 1991-1993 and his cousin, Nick, is currently attending Rollins College, where he also plays baseball. Jonathan attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, where he hit .322 over the course of his three year varsity career and showed a great deal of promise on the mound. One of the highest regarded prospects in the state of Massachusetts, he went undrafted in the 2021 MLB Draft and honored his commitment to Duke University.
Santucci appeared in 20 games in his freshman season, starting as a middle reliever but eventually transitioning and establishing himself as a weekend starting pitcher as the months went on. On the season, the left-hander posted a 4.17 ERA in 41.0 innings, allowing 32 hits, walking 20, and striking out 58. He played in the Cape Cod Baseball League that summer, posting a 3.65 ERA for the Harwich Mariners in 24.2 innings, with 20 hits allowed, 10 walks, and 28 strikeouts. He wasn’t able to keep that momentum going in 2023, as an elbow injury limited the amount of time he was able to spend on the mound. The southpaw started seven games for the Blue Devils before having his season end prematurely in March due to bone chips in his elbow. All in all, he posted a 4.30 ERA in 29.1 innings, allowing 27 hits, walking 16, and striking out 50.
The left-hander underwent surgery in which a screw was inserted into his olecranon- the bony hinge tip of his elbow- to allow the bone to fuse back together, and returned in February 2024, almost a full calendar year from the last time he stepped on the mound. He made up for lost time, throwing 17 scoreless innings to begin his season, scattering 10 hits, walking 7, and striking out 31. He eventually came back to earth and ended up struggling some for the rest of the season, throwing six innings just once and allowing at least one earned run in every single start he made until the end of April. In mid-May, just prior to a game against Georgia Tech, Santucci sustained a rib injury on his non-throwing side. He was originally expected to only miss a week or two, but the left-handed ended up missing roughly a month. He returned to the mound in the NCAA Regionals, throwing two innings against Oral Roberts University on June 1st, but with Duke’s elimination did not return to the mound again in 2024. All in all, he posted a 3.41 ERA in 58.0 innings, allowing 40 hits, walking 36, and striking out 90. The Mets selected the southpaw in the second round of the 2024 MLB Draft and signed him for $2,031,700, the exact slot value of the 46th overall pick. He was assigned to the FCL Mets in early August as a roster formality, but did not pitch for them.
The 6’2”, 205-pound Santucci has a solid frame for pitching. The left-hander throws from a low-three-quarters arm slot, almost exclusively working from the stretch, incorporating a leg kick and long arm action through the back.
His fastball sits in the low-to-mid-90s, reportedly topping out as high as 97 MPH. While the velocity of the pitch is not overwhelming, it comes at batters from a flat approach angle due to his arm slot and is especially effective up in the zone and above it. He complements it with a slider and a changeup, both of which grade as above-average pitches. The slider sits in the mid-80s and has tight, two-plane gyroscopic break. He is able to throw the pitch effectively to both sides of the strike zone against fellow left-handers and right-handed batters. His changeup sits in the mid-80s and features armside fade and vertical tumble. Santucci does not use the pitch much currently, generally mixing it in only a handful of times in a game, and almost always against right-handed batters the second or third time through the order. The southpaw rarely telegraphs the pitch, throwing it with the same arm speed and slot as his fastball, but he sometimes struggles to command the pitch.
The left-hander has never had particularly great control and command in general, and because of this, Santucci may never be particularly efficient pitcher, running unnecessarily high pitch counts. He may never be the healthiest pitcher, either. While his 2024 rib injury seemingly was random, the elbow issue he sustained and had surgery to fix in 2023 may have a recurring impact on his career going forward if it has not fully healed properly and the joint structurally sound.
2025 Mets Top 25 Prospect List
12) Jeremy Rodriguez
13) Boston Baro
14) Nate Dohm
15) Marco Vargas
16) Blade Tidwell
17) Eli Serrano III
18) Trey Snyder
19) Nick Morabito
20) Dom Hamel
21) Jacob Reimer
22) Will Watson
23) Daiverson Gutierrez
24) Ronald Hernandez
25) Edward Lantigua