2008-08-16 A's Game RP Santiago Casilla

Santiago Casilla (born June 25, 1980 in San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic) is a right-handed Major League Baseball relief pitcher for the Oakland Athletics.

Casilla was signed by the Athletics on January 31, 2000 as an amateur free agent.

Casilla pitched from 2000 to 2005 under the name of Jairo Garcia. In 2006, he revealed his real name to be Santiago Casilla during Spring Training. He had used false documents when he first signed a contract with the Athletics in 2000.

Casilla pitched small parts of 2004, 2005, and 2006 for the Athletics as a reliever. In 2007, Casilla was recalled by the Athletics from Triple A after going 2-1 with a 4.13 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 24 innings. He stepped into a bullpen that had Huston Street, Justin Duchscherer, and Kiko Calero on the disabled list. Casilla started off well, going 2-1 with 2 saves and a 0.45 ERA in his first 16 games. But he wound up finishing the season with a 3-1 record and a 4.44 ERA in 46 games.

Casilla works with a prototypical power pitcher repertoire, chiefly throwing a mid-90s fastball and a hard-breaking slider. He also occasionally mixes in a curveball and changeup.

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