Johan Santana

Johan Santana
Minnesota Twins – No. 57
Starting pitcher
Bats: Left Throws: Left
debut
April 3, 2000, for the Minnesota Twins
Career statistics (through 2007 season)
Win-Loss	93-44
Earned run average	3.22
Strikeouts	1,381
Teams
Minnesota Twins (2000-present)
Career highlights and awards
All-Star (AL): 2005–2007 Cy Young Award (AL): 2004, 2006

Johan Alexander Santana Araque (born March 13, 1979) is a Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher who plays for the Minnesota Twins.

Early life

Santana was born in Tovar, Mérida State, Venezuela and attended Jordan High School, where he played baseball and soccer.

Professional career

Santana was signed by the Houston Astros as an undrafted free agent in 1995 but remained in Venezuela, where 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 for minor leaguer Jared Camp. 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. He put up a 6.49 ERA in 86 innings pitched in 2000, his rookie year. Santana and his wife, Yasmile, have two daughters, Jasmily & Jasmine.

In 2002, the Twins sent Santana to the minors for 2 months to work almost exclusively on perfecting his changeup. He did this for 10 starts and came back up to the majors with a terrific changeup to complement his very good fastball.

Santana is tough on both right-handed and left-handed hitters. He works quickly and throws a 91-95 mph fastball, a hard slider (which he has developed into a slurve), and a tailing changeup that is considered one of best changeups in baseball. 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 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 also has very good control, as evidenced by his 52 walks in 219 innings in 2007. 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 won his last eight decisions and pitched the ALDS opening game against the Yankees. He is regarded by many as the best pitcher in baseball today.

2004 season

In 2004, Santana enjoyed one of the great second halves of modern times. 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'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.

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 won 5-2. 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 Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera.

2006 season

Santana won the Major League pitching Triple Crown, the first player to do so in the American League since Pedro Martinez in 1999. 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 first 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. In that three-year span, he has compiled a 55-19 record with an ERA of 2.75 and WHIP of 0.96, while striking out 748 batters.

2007 season

After a slow start, with his record falling to 6-6 at one point, Johan jumpstarted his season with a four-hit shutout, followed by two wins. On July 1, 2007, Santana was named as a member of the 2007 MLB All-Star Game, his third straight appearance.

On June 19, 2007, on the team bus to a game at the New York Mets, Bert Blyleven said he would have his head shaved if that night's starting pitcher, Johan, threw a complete-game shutout. The Twins won, 9-0, and Santana went the distance. Santana shaved Blyleven's head the following day.

The worst career night for Santana came on July 23, 2007 in Toronto against the Blue Jays as he allowed four home runs in four innings.

Santana had perhaps his best career game on August 19th against the Texas Rangers, in which he set down 17 Texas batters by means of a strikeout in eight innings. The 17 strikeouts in a game is the current Twins team record. Santana walked none, and allowed only two hits, both to Sammy Sosa.

While Santana did not have a bad season, he led the major leagues in home runs allowed (33) and had the most losses of his career (13). Santana finished the season with only 15 wins, his lowest total since 2003, though he led the American League in WHIP, was 2nd in strikeouts with 235, and 7th in ERA. On the last game of the season, a rain delay in Detroit that lasted over an hour caused Santana to pitch only three innings, ending a 123-start streak where he pitched five innings or more, which was the third longest in the past half century.

In November, it was announced that Johan Santana was awarded the American League Gold Glove Award for pitcher. This was the first time he was selected for this award.

Offseason

With Santana looking for a hefty contract extension, the Twins have been in talks with various teams concerning the possibility of a trade. The two primary teams vying for Santana are the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. However, due to the Twins' demands for young prospects, it appeared as if the Yankees have dropped their pursuit of Santana, but on December 15, it was reported that they had reopened trade talks. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were thought to be interested, but have denied any links to Santana. The Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, and New York Mets have also been mentioned in trade as well. As of now, the front-runners to acquire Santana remain the Yankees, Red Sox and Mets with the Mariners looming behind. It is said that the Twins want four prospects with one being a CF, but the Twins also do not mind retaining Santana if the right deal is not struck.

Career statistics

SEASON	AGE	TM	LG	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	GF	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	HBP	WP	O-AVG	ERA
2000	21	MIN	AL	2	3	30	5	0	0	9	0	86.0	102	64	62	11	54	64	2	5	.302	6.49
2001	22	MIN	AL	1	0	15	4	0	0	5	0	43.2	50	25	23	6	16	28	3	3	.292	4.74
2002	23	MIN	AL	8	6	27	14	0	0	2	1	108.1	84	41	36	7	49	137	1	15	.212	2.99
2003	24	MIN	AL	12	3	45	18	0	0	7	0	158.1	127	56	54	17	47	169	3	6	.216	3.07
2004	25	MIN	AL	20	6	34	34	1	1	0	0	228.0	156	70	66	24	54	265	9	7	.192	2.61
2005	26	MIN	AL	16	7	33	33	3	2	0	0	231.2	180	77	74	22	45	238	1	8	.210	2.87
2006	27	MIN	AL	19	6	34	34	1	0	0	0	233.2	186	79	72	24	47	245	4	4	.216	2.77
2007	28	MIN	AL	15	13	32	32	1	1	0	0	219.0	181	85	79	33	49	235	4	7	.226	3.29
TOTAL	28	MIN	AL	93	44	244	168	6	4	23	1	1,308.2	1,023	474	443	135	351	1,381	27	55	.219	3.15

Legend

Abbrev	Explanation
SEASON	Year Season was played
AGE	Player's Age during season
TM	Team played for
LG	League team played in
W	Pitching Wins
L	Pitching Losses
G	Games pitched in
GS	Games Started
CG	Complete Games
SHO	Shutouts
GF	Games Finished as relief pitcher
SV	Saves
IP	Innings Pitched
H	Hits allowed
R	Runs allowed
ER	Earned Runs allowed
HR	Home Runs allowed
BB	Bases on Balls (Walks)
K	Strikeouts
HBP	Batters Hit
WP	Wild Pitches
O-AVG	Opponents Batting Average
ERA	Earned Run Average (Formula: 9 * ER / IP)

Highlights

• All-Star (2005-2007)
• American League Cy Young Award winner (2004 and 2006, both unanimous selections)
• American League Gold Glove Award winner (2007)
• 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)
• Top 10 MVP Award (7th, 2006)
• Won the Triple Crown as the leader in wins (19), strikeouts (245), and ERA (2.77) in 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.
• Set a Minnesota Twins record with 17 strikeouts over eight innings against the Rangers.(August 19, 2007)

See also

• List of players from Venezuela in Major League Baseball
• Triple Crown
• List of Major League Baseball ERA champions
• List of Major League Baseball strikeout champions
• List of Major League Baseball wins champions

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference
• The Art of Deception - interview and profile in City Pages

Accomplishments