Brewers promote outfielder Domingo Santana to majors

The Milwaukee Brewers have promoted outfield prospect Domingo Santana to the major league roster. Acquired in the Carlos Gomez/Mike Fiers trade with the Houston Astros at the July deadline, Santana has been destroying Triple-A pitching for Colorado Springs since the trade, hitting .380/.424/.554 with two homers, six walks, and 17 strikeouts in 79 at-bats over 20 games.

He was destroying Triple-A pitching before the trade, too, hitting .320/.426/.582 for Fresno, giving him a combined Pacific Coast League slash line of .33/.426/.573 with 18 homers, 54 walks, and 108 strikeouts in 354 at-bats.

Age 23, the 6-5, 225-pound right-handed hitter and thrower looks like a prototype corner outfielder with plus power and a strong throwing arm. He isn't much of a stolen base threat but Santana runs well enough that he's spent some time in center field without embarrassing himself, though in the long run right field looks like the best fit.

He has nothing left to prove in the PCL but his brief cups-of-coffee with the Astros in 2014 and 2015 exposed significant contact issues against advanced pitching. He went 0-for-17 with 14 strikeouts in 2014. His pre-trade trial this season was less disastrous: 10-for-39 (.256) with two homers and .462 SLG, though contact remained an issue with 17 whiffs and just two walks.

In my view, the Brewers need to stick him in the lineup every day for the rest of the season and let him play. Triple-A isn't going to teach him anything more; he's proven he can dominate that level even with the flaws in his game and the adjustments he needs to make can only come with a full exposure to big league pitching.

It's time to see what he can do.