Benito Santiago: Former MLB Star's Niece Shows Serious Game, Strikes out 19

Benito Santiago's niece has serious game. 

The retired MLB journeyman has a very gifted niece, and she proved she has just as powerful a cannon as her famous uncle. 

Deadspin has a wonderful story of a young girl living up to the family legacy. 

The story comes form a report in the Syracuse Post-Standard and maintains that 11-year-old Nadia Diaz recently struck out 19 batters in a Little League game. 

Benito Santiago is famous for being able to gun down runners from his knees, and it seems a powerful arm and precise throws run in the family. 

Yes, she fanned 19 in a six-inning game, making the necessary question, how? She recorded all 18 outs for her team, but a batter reached first safely after a catcher dropped the ball on a strikeout, enabling her to finish with 19 K's.

Her team won, 1-0. 

Her fastball sails at more than 60 mph, but she is more than just a power pitcher, as her arsenal includes a cutter, slider and change-up. If that weren't scary enough, she is working on a curveball. 

I would say she can wait on the 12-to-6 for the time being because she seems to be dominating just fine. 

On playing with boys, Diaz seems to be growing in confidence. 

"

It's fun. because the boys, sometimes, they think they're all that. But when I go up there and pitch, they go, whooo. It's a funny reaction.

There was a tournament at Cortland. They were like, 'Oh, a girl pitcher. We can so hit her. I got a little intimidated. But I gave it my all. And I struck a lot of them out. It was fun.

"

On her future in the sport, she is sold on baseball. 

"

I love it. This is something I want to do when I grow up. I don't like softball. It's like too girly. The ball is big. I like something challenging.

"

I have every confidence in Diaz to meet every challenge she sees fit to undertake. With a wide array of pitches at her disposal and MLB-blood coursing through her veins, there isn't much to stop her. 

The amazing part is she still has one more year of Little League eligibility left.

That's a whole lot of swinging and missing. 

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