De Los Santos, a possible candidate for a spot start Tuesday, continued his excellent season at Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Thursday, allowing two runs on four hits and a walk in a six-inning start against Syracuse.
De Los Santos has allowed three or fewer runs in each of his 16 starts this season, leaving him with a sparkling 1.89 ERA. That ERA may overrate him somewhat, as it's backed up by a .248 BABIP and a 92.6 percent left on base rate, but De Los Santos has certainly elevated his profile after he was acquired for Freddy Galvis in the offseason. The Phillies will need a pair of spot starters next week, one to start one half of Monday's doubleheader and the other to fill in for Vince Velasquez (forearm) on Tuesday. De Los Santos makes a natural candidate to receive Tuesday's opportunity, as he is already on schedule to start that day. He's not yet on the 40-man roster but will have to be added this offseason in order to be protected from the Rule 5 draft, so the Phillies have little to lose by calling on him for his major-league debut.