Track Record: The son of former Cleveland minor league outfielder Osmany Santana, who peaked at Double-A in 2001, Adrian headed into his senior year at Doral (Fla.) Academy in 2023 with a solid shot of making it to campus at Miami. He answered many of the questions about his bat by leading Doral County preps with 11 home runs while showing one of the best gloves in the draft class. The Rays drafted Santana 31st overall, making him the fourth shortstop they’ve picked in their past five competitive balance picks and paying him $2 million to forgo his college commitment to Miami.
Scouting Report: Santana is one of the smoother shortstops to come out of high school in the past few years. He’s not yet Carson Williams’ equal defensively, but he has a chance to get there thanks to his exceptional twitchiness, body control and smooth hands. His arm is above-average, and there’s reason to believe it will get better as he gets stronger. The switch-hitting Santana faces many more questions offensively. His lefthanded swing will need a whole lot of work in the cage. It has more length to it than the righthanded swing he uses much less often, and he struggles with his timing from the left side. Santana weighs just 155 pounds but has shown surprising pop for such a slight frame. Still, his lack of strength will be a challenge early in his pro career. He is a plus-plus runner who should steal bushels of bases.
The Future: Santana would have been better served by the old minor league structure where he could spend his first full pro season in the Appalachian or New York-Penn leagues. Now, the Rays will have to decide whether to push him to Low-A Charleston or send him back to the Florida Complex League. He’s more than ready defensively, but his bat may not be up to the Carolina League challenge.
Scouting Grades Hit: 50 | Power: 40 | Run: 70 | Field: 60 | Arm: 55
