Johan Santana

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Johan Santana

Minnesota Twins — No. 57
Pitcher
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
Major League Baseball debut
April 3, 2000 for the Minnesota Twins
Selected MLB statistics (through October 11, 2006)
Wins-Losses	78-31
ERA	3.20
Strikeouts	1146

Johan Santana (born March 13, 1979) is a Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher who plays for the Minnesota Twins. He is a 2-time American League Cy Young Award winner.

[edit] Biography

Santana was born in Tovar, Mérida State, Venezuela and attended Jordan High School, where he played baseball and soccer. Santana was signed by the Houston Astros as an undrafted free agent in 1995 but remained in Venezuela, where he was he was named the Tovar Mérida Athlete of the Year in 1999. Later that year, he was selected by the Florida Marlins from Houston in the 1999 rule 5 draft and then traded to the Minnesota Twins. Santana made his Major League debut with the Twins on April 3, 2000, coming from the bullpen vs. Tampa Bay. He made his first MLB start on April 7, 2000, at Kansas City and recorded his first Major League win in a relief appearance at Houston on June 6.

Johan Santana speaking to Venezuelan radio immediately after a victory against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Santana is tough on both right-handed and left-handed hitters. He works quickly and throws a 95 mph fastball, a hard slider (which he has worked into a slurve), and an unhittable tailing changeup. His pitches are too close to take, but difficult to drive, causing batters to lunge after balls that are down and out of the strike zone. He frequently rolls up double-digit strikeout totals, and many of his fans write his name with the middle initial "K" (the baseball scoring symbol for a strikeout) in place of his real middle initial. He consistently works to eliminate the difference in his throwing motions, making it very difficult for opposing batters to guess which pitch he's throwing.

Santana was used as a long reliever early in his career after finding little success as a starter. In 2003, Santana transitioned from relief to the Twins' starting rotation after spending the first four months of the season in the bullpen. He compiled an 8-0 record as a starter and pitched the ALDS opening game against the Yankees.

[edit] 2004 season

In 2004, Santana enjoyed one of the great second halves of modern times. His streak of dominance has been compared to Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan. He became the first pitcher since 1961 to give up four or fewer hits in ten straight starts, and his 13-0 record broke the old Major League second-half mark shared between Burt Hooton and Rick Sutcliffe.

Santana about to pitch, May, 2005.

Santana's other second-half numbers were equally impressive: 11.13 strikeouts per nine innings, 1.21 ERA, 4.74 hits per nine innings, and 6.73 baserunners per nine innings. In addition, Santana set a team season record with 265 strikeouts, surpassing the old 258 mark registered by Bert Blyleven in 1973.

Santana finished in good form with a 20-6 record and led the American League in strikeouts (265), ERA (2.61), strikeouts per nine innings pitched (10.46), WHIP (0.92), batting average allowed (.192), OBP (.249), SLG (.315), and OPS (.564) and walked only 54 batters in 228 innings. Opponents stole just six bases in seven attempts against him, and his 20 victories ranked him second behind only Curt Schilling, who won 21 games for the Red Sox. He easily won the AL Cy Young Award over Schilling with all 28 first-place votes.

[edit] 2005 season

Santana struggled in his first outing of 2005, giving up four runs in the first inning, but quickly regained his composure and returned to Cy Young-winning form in an 8-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners. In his second game, he rocked the Chicago White Sox with 11 strikeouts as the Twins rolled to a 5-2 win. Following a brief slump in May 2005, Santana worked on improving his pitching form and was immediately rewarded with a seven-inning, two-run outing against the Toronto Blue Jays, which the Twins won 7-2. Santana finished with an ERA of 2.87, second lowest in the American League behind Indians pitcher Kevin Millwood (2.86). However, the weak Twins club of the 2005 season cost him several otherwise-winnable games, and his winning percentage fell considerably in his second full year as a starter. He threw 238 strikeouts during the season, leading the majors. He finished third in the Cy Young voting, finishing behind winner Bartolo Colón of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Yankees' legendary reliever Mariano Rivera.

[edit] 2006 Season

Santana won the pitching Triple Crown for the whole Majors, the first person to do so since since Dwight Gooden in 1985 (Randy Johnson in 2002 was the last to win the Triple Crown for a league). He completed the season leading the majors in ERA (2.77) and strikeouts (245), and tied Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang in wins (19). He is the first pitcher to win the triple crown with fewer than 20 wins, and the only person to win the MLB triple crown with an ERA above 2.60.

Santana also led the American League in WHIP (1.0), opposing batting average (.216), and innings pitched (233.6). He continued to add to his reputation as a great second-half pitcher, losing only one game after the All-Star break while winning 10 and posting a 2.54 ERA. A brief slump cost him the opportunity to make his 20th win of the season. No pitcher in Major League Baseball won 20 games in the 2006 season, the first time in modern major league history this occurred in a non-shortened season.

Santana won his second Cy Young Award in 2006, becoming the 14th player in MLB history to win the award multiple times. He is the fifth pitcher to win the award by a unanimous vote twice, joining Roger Clemens, Pedro Martínez, and Greg Maddux; Sandy Koufax accomplished the feat three times.

From 2004-2006, Santana has led the league in strikeouts all three years, in ERA twice, and has also led in several other key statistical areas. He has established himself as one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball today.

[edit] Career Stats

[edit] Legend

[edit] Highlights

• All-Star (2005, 2006)
• American League Cy Young Award winner (2004 and 2006, both unanimous selections)
• Led American League in winning percentage in 2003, finishing the season at 12-3 (.800)
• Top 10 Cy Young Award (7th, 2003; Winner, 2004; 3rd, 2005; Winner, 2006)
• Won Triple Crown (2006)
• Top 10 MVP Award (7th, 2006)
• Fanned former teammate David Ortiz for his 1,000th career strikeout (June 13, 2006). Coincidentally, later in the year he would give up Ortiz's 51st home run of the season (September 21), which set a record for home runs by a Red Sox player in one season.

[edit] Trivia

• During the 2006 baseball season, Santana and the Twins organization purchased a newly-retired fire engine from the city of Coon Rapids, Minnesota, for Santana's hometown of Tovar.
• Johan Santana is one of the pro baseball players in Backyard Baseball 2007.
• Played for Venezuela in the 2006 World Baseball Classic.

[edit] See also

• Players from Venezuela in MLB

[edit] External links

• Aaron's Baseball Blog - analysis
• Johan Santana at ESPN.com
• Baseball Reference - career statistics