Gators head baseball coach Tony Schifano distinctly remembers going to scout a player from Southern California, but the player he was there to see wasn’t the one that caught his eye.
“I went to a summer game. It would have been five years ago now, and I was there to see a coach’s son that was highly recommended to me, an infielder,” Schifano said. “I’m watching the game and didn’t know who Santos was, and the first swing, he drilled a ball over the right field fence at this summer game. I said, ‘That’s a really good swing.’ I wrote his number down and I’m watching the game, just talking to people and I noticed he was coming back up and the next pitch, he drilled off the right field wall and I said, ‘Wow, who is this kid?’”
That kid was Daniel “Barrels” Santos, who is now the all-time hits leader in San Francisco State University baseball history with 215 career hits.
“I think that’s just a real credit to Coach Schifano and his staff for finding him,” said Darian Urrutia, SFSU student and best friend of Santos. “Because he was really a diamond in the rough.”
Santos’ journey to making history was anything but smooth. In fact, it happened unintentionally.
He grew up in Southern California, with both of his parents working in law enforcement, a career path Santos plans to follow if he is unable to play professionally.
“The major goal would be to play at the next level, but if it doesn’t work out, I do have a backup plan,” Santos said. “The plan is to pursue a law enforcement career back home in SoCal, particularly the Los Angeles Police Department, following in the footsteps of my parents.”
Baseball found Santos at a young age, around 3-4 years old. He remembers his parents telling him that he’s “always been a ballplayer.”
“They said I would always just need balls, or a rock, and I’d pick it up, kind of throw it,” Santos said. “They already had an idea right away that baseball was my sport.”
Urrutia noticed this too when both of them were in Little League. He recalls Santos as being the best player.
“You could tell from a young age, he was a step above,” said Urrutia. “Baseball just came naturally.”
In 2021, Santos was named Offensive Player of the Year with a .487 batting average. He won many accolades while attending Los Altos High School.
Despite these achievements, Santos was hardly getting recruited by any colleges — that was until the summer ball game in front of Schifano.
“I remember on one of my hits, coming around second base, touching third, and my high school baseball coach whispers in my ear, ‘You just got yourself a scholarship,’” Santos said. “I’ll never forget those words.”
Schifano remembered seeing Santos, describing him as one of the most special young hitters he’s ever seen.
“I could tell the balance, the swing path, he stayed inside the ball and he drove the ball with authority right away at a young age,” Schifano said. “Not a very big kid, but he still drove the ball out of right field, and that was extremely impressive to me.”
Moving from Southern California to San Francisco was a big change of scenery for Santos, but on his visit to SFSU, his parents were convinced this was the place for him after seeing Santos being presented with jersey number 21 — a number worn by a teammate of Santos’ sister who played softball. She died after having a brain aneurysm while at bat with Santos’ sister on second base.
“Seeing that jersey was heartwarming, and we knew from that point, she was still watching over us,” Santos said. “I also think my parents took it as a sign that coming to SF was the right choice for me.”
In the past three seasons, Santos totaled 186 hits and won CCAA Freshman of the Year and All-CCAA Second Team in his sophomore year.
Going into this season, Santos found himself just 27 hits away from history, a tally that seemed inevitable based on the previous three seasons. However, by his own admission, Santos has called this season a struggle for himself.
“This hasn’t been my best year, statistically wise. So I’ve been in that cage just about every day. Just working my tail off, trying to get to that record,” Santos said.
After making some changes to his swing, thanks to one of his coaches, he went into the series against California State Polytechnic University, Pomona with confidence and history on his mind.
On April 11, Santos went 3-4, giving him 212 hits in his career and marking him one hit shy of tying the record and two hits shy of history.
The next day, in game one of a doubleheader, he hit a single to right center in the second inning, giving him 213 hits in his career and tying former Gator Mark Lindsay for the record.
“I was happy for him to be honest. I texted him before, just joking with him like ‘don’t forget to get the ball,’” Lindsay said. “It’s a good accomplishment, I wasn’t jealous or mad or anything like that. I like Daniel. He’s a good kid. He kind of reminds me of myself, too. He’s a quiet kid, gets the job done, real strict business. It’s the least I could do.”
In the bottom of the seventh inning, one hit away from history, Maloney Field saw the record-breaking number, 214.
“I put on one of my better swings and was able to muscle one out into center field for a nice low base hit. Rounding first, I knew right away, once I saw it drop, it was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. It was nice seeing all the fans rise up. All my teammates made me do a little curtain call. So that was cool.”
As of now, Santos’ 215 career hits may never be broken. The baseball program is set to be discontinued beginning July 1.
“I think it’s very easy to just kind of sit back and say, ‘Hey, you’re done, you did your job,’” Santos said. “Talking to some of the middle-class sophomores, juniors, hearing their stories and some rumors about some of them, like hanging them up. It just really sucks.”
While Santos does have the hits record, that is not his only major goal for the rest of his final season. The Gators are 22-14 and are trying to build off their regional finals appearance last season.
“One thing I want to let my teammates know and coaches know: I’m not done yet. I got the record, it’s cool and all, but we’re here for a bigger goal. Here to bring back that national championship,” Santos said.
When he’s not playing baseball, Santos enjoys cooking, weightlifting, playing video games with his teammates and watching shows or movies with his girlfriend.
“He’s the best Super Smash Bros. player,” teammate Nicholas Cook said. “Daniel is a guy you always want hanging with you. He’s a super fun guy, it doesn’t matter what we do, it’s always a good time.”
While his closest friends describe him as “laid back,” there’s more to him once you get to know him.
“He definitely has a goofy side to him that you’ll see if you spend enough time with him. He’s a big jokester, he’s a big instigator,” Urrutia said. “You get what you get with him. He’s pretty upfront. He’s the epitome of authentic.”
No matter how the season ends, Santos will be entrenched in SFSU baseball history forever. If you told the kid from Southern California that, he wouldn’t have believed you.
“If you would have told me coming in here my freshman year that I’d be the all-time hits leader, I would have called you crazy,” Santos said. “I worked my tail off to be where I’m at right now. Countless days in the gym, on the field, practicing after practice, before practice. I still can’t believe I’m the all-time hits leader.”
