This article originially ran Sunday, July 3 in The Star-Ledger
Editor's Note: Hector Santiago played for the North Ward Center's baseball team from 2002-06. Read related story on nj.com.
Hector Santiago sat in his apartment in Birmingham, Ala., around 10 a.m. last Sunday, idling time in the latest minor-league outpost during a career first imagined in Newark’s North Ward. Hours before members of the Double A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, the Birmingham Barons, were due at the ballpark for a 6:30 game against the Tennessee Smokers, Santiago received a phone call from his manager.
Hector Santiago, born in Newark's North Ward and a 30th-round pick of the Chicago White Sox in 2006, is flying high after being called up from Double-A Birmingham.
“Do you think you can go out of the bullpen tonight?” Bobby Magallanes, asked Santiago, a starter for the Birmingham Barons who recorded a 4.58 ERA and 30 strikeouts in six starts with the club.
“Yeah, man,” Santiago replied, with the sense of duty of a 2006 30th-round pick out of Bloomfield Tech who had already clung to five minor-league seasons devoid of the security of a high-round bonus baby.
“Then pack your bags,” the Magallanes said. “You’re going to Chicago.”
Chicago? To play for the White Sox?
Jokes and pranks become rituals in minor-league clubhouses, where Kangaroo Court rulings often apply. Santiago wanted to know whether his manager was serious.
“I wouldn’t joke around with something like this,” the manager replied, according to Santiago. “It’s too big to joke around with.”
A plane ticket and a contract awaited Santiago, now artifacts of what the 23-year-old considers one of the best moments of his life.
A left-handed pitcher, Santiago’s promotion came when White Sox starter John Danks was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right oblique. The White Sox had utilized a six-man rotation, so Danks’ injury prompted the club to return to a five-man rotation and use Santiago as a long man out of the bullpen, although he did not pitch right away.
The lack of appearances didn’t quell the excitement in the North Ward. Santiago estimated that he received 300 text messages and Facebook messages. Santiago’s father, who goes by the same name, said he’s overwhelmed by the phone calls that he’s received as the news circulated. The family drove to Chicago for this weekend’s series against the crosstown-rival Cubs. They’ll also watch Santiago’s first home game Monday.
The elder Santiago, a carpet installer, played four softball games on Sundays while raising his son. He’d strap his equipment to his bicycle and bring his son along for the day, from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. The younger Santiago would shag fly balls in the outfield and gaze at the old men enjoying the game.
“That’s when I knew what he wanted,” said Santiago Sr.
His career blossomed in the recreation leagues in the North Ward and as a standout at Bloomfield Tech. After the White Sox invested a 30th-round pick in Santiago and he signed after a season at a Florida community college, Santiago insisted to his father: “Don’t worry, I’ll make it.”
Doubt crept into Santiago’s mind last season, though, when the 6-0, 210-pounder could not ascend into Double-A for the second consecutive season. He fiddled with his arm delivery, throwing sidearm at one time.
Santiago’s breakthrough came when he refined his screwball, a pitch he learned while playing in a Puerto Rican winter league. After spring training, Santiago became a starter — the clearest indication of progress he has made in his career.
“If they make you a starter,” Santiago said, “it’s kind of a good thing.”
He earned his promotion to Birmingham after five starts with Class-A Winston-Salem. He figured if he continued pitching well, he might become a September call-up when rosters expand.
Less than one month later, he posted a message on his Facebook page: “A day to remember for the rest of my life.” He later posted a photo of a Chicago White Sox jersey with “Santiago” and “60” inscribed on the back.
“I’m hoping that I finish the season here, but I can’t go and say I’m going to be here or I’m not going to be here,” Santiago said. “You never know what’s going to happen.”
