Careers cut short: Johan Santana

Johan Santana was one of baseball’s elite pitchers of the 2000s, winning a Pitching Triple Crown, a pair of Cy Young Awards, and three ERA Titles before injuries started in 2008. Lisa Blumenfeld Credit: Getty Images.

Jack Butler

Johan Santana wasn’t selected in the June Amateur Draft, however, the Florida Marlins, who were two years removed from their surprise run to a World Series Championship, selected him with the second pick of the 1999 Rule 5 Draft. On the day of the Rule 5 Draft, the Marlins traded Santana to the Minnesota Twins with cash for minor leaguer Jared Camp. Santana ended up being a key piece along with catcher Joe Mauer, first baseman Justin Morneau, centerfielder Torii Hunter, and closer Joe Nathan as the five led the Twins to two AL Central Division Titles during their tenure together.

Santana arrived first, debuting on April 3, 2000, against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in mop-up duties for Manager Tom Kelly, going 1 scoreless frame, allowing a hit, and recording his first MLB strikeout. In 29 more appearances, 5 of them starts, went 2-3 with a 6.59 ERA in 86.0 innings giving up 62 earned runs, issued 54 walks to 64 strikeouts for a 5.7 BB9 and 1.19 SO/W which were the worst marks of his career.

Santana pitched in 15 games in 2001 for the Twins, in which 5 of them he started going 1-0 with an improved 4.74 ERA, in a small sample size, tossing 43.2 frames, 16 walks to 28 strikeouts, and lowered his BB9 to 3.3. The following year, he helped Minnesota reach the postseason for the first time in 11 seasons as the Twins captured its first AL Central Crown. In 2002, Santana appeared in 27 games with 14 of them starts going 8-6 with an impressive 2.99 ERA in 108.1 innings while he walked 49 and struck out 137 batters.

The postseason wasn’t his friend as he pitched 3.0 innings across two games in the Division Series, allowing a pair of earned runs for a 6.00 ERA, but Minnesota still got passed the Moneyball A’s in 5 games. In the Championship Series against the Wild Card Anaheim Angels, Minnesota fell apart where they were outscored 28-10 during the final four games of the series. Santana appeared in four games going 0-1 to toss 3.1 innings while giving up four earned runs and struck out 4.

2003 was the year the Twins transitioned Santana from reliever into the starting rotation which began on July 11 going 6.0 innings, allowing 3 earned runs and striking 4 in a loss to the Angels. In his last 14 starts, he went 8-1 with a 3.13 ERA over 86.1 frames, walking 24 and striking out 88. Santana led the Twins to another Division Title where he started games 1 and 4 of the ALDS versus the New York Yankees. In those games he lasted 7.2 frames, giving up 9 hits and 6 earned runs as the Yankees eliminated the Twins, beginning a stretch where Minnesota has gone 2-16 against the Bronx bombers since 2003 in the playoffs.

Santana put it all together in 2004 with his best statistical season going 20-6 with a league-leading 2.61 ERA in 228.0 innings with an AL-best 265 strikeouts, 2.92 FIP, 0.921 WHIP, and 10.5 SO9 along with leading the MLB by having a 182 ERA+ and 6.2 H9. Those numbers earned him his first AL Cy Young Award – the first Venezuelan-born player to win it – while finishing 6th in the MVP vote.

The Twins once again were atop the AL Central and faced a familiar foe in the Yankees with Santana on the bump against Mike Mussina. Santana bested the Moose by tossing 7 shutout frames to help Minnesota steal Game 1 from New York. Then, the Yankees took a commanding 2-1 series lead and Manager Ron Gardenhire sent his ace to even it up. Through 7 innings, 5 of the frames were pitched by Santana, who only allowed a run and were six outs away from sending the ALDS back to Yankee Stadium. New York railed to score four in the eighth, then took the lead on a Kyle Lohse wild pitch in the 11th and Mariano Rivera ended the Twins season.

Santana had another stellar campaign in 2005 compiling a 16-7 record with a 2.87 ERA in 231.2 innings, leading the MLB with 238 strikeouts and 2.80 FIP while being tops in AL with a 155 ERA+, 0.971 WHIP, 7.0 H9, and 9.2 SO9. Enough though he led many pitching categories, Bartolo Colón took home the Cy Young in one of the worst Cy Young votes in recent memory.

2006 was a special year for Santana who won his second Cy Young after going 19-6 with a 2.77 ERA with 245 strikeouts to win the Pitching Triple Crown and led many advanced pitching statistics. The Twins reached October and were knocked out by the Athletics in the first round. Santana’s ERA jumped to 3.33 in 2007 during his final year in Minnesota where he went 15-13 in 219.0 frames and had 235 strikeouts.

On February 2, 2008, the Twins traded him to New York Mets for Carlos Gomez, Deolis Guerra, Philip Humber, and Kevin Mulvey. Santana shined for the Mets going 16-7 with a league-leading 2.53 ERA, becoming the sixth hurler to win an ERA Title in both the AL and NL, joining Cy Young, Rube Waddell, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martínez, and Roger Clemens. Santana finished 3rd behind Brandon Webb and winner Tim Lincecum for the NL Cy Young. Following the season, on October 1, he underwent successful surgery to repair a torn meniscus that he pitched on during multiple starts.

2009 was going good for Santana as he went 13-9 with a 3.13 ERA and 146 strikeouts until the Mets placed him on the disabled list in late August, and missed the rest of the campaign to have season-ending arthroscopic surgery to remove bone chips in his left elbow. His injuries continued in 2010 when he had to undergo surgery in mid-September to repair a torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder. In Santana’s third season in Queens, he went 11-9 with a 2.98 ERA and 144 strikeouts. He recovered from his shoulder surgery which kept him out the entire 2011 season and only pitched in the minors. Santana came back in 2012 and on June 1, tossed a no-hitter against the reigning World Series Champions, the St. Louis Cardinals, at Citi Field, becoming the first Mets pitcher in franchise history to throw a no-no.

Injuries continued for Santana as in 2013, he tore his shoulder capsule a second time and received surgery in early April which meant missing his second full season in the 3 years. Right when he was making a comeback with the Baltimore Orioles on a minor league contract, he tore his Achilles tendon in an extended spring training outing and once again was out an entire season.

In all, Johan Alexander Santana was one of the game’s greatest pitchers who didn’t throw hard and relied on command and his wicked circle changeup to get hitters out. He enjoyed a 12-year career with 5 All-Star selections, 3 ERA Titles, 2 Cy Youngs, a Pitching Triple Crown, a Gold Glove, and one no-hitter. Even though injuries took away the rest of his prime, he went 139-78, .641 W-L%, with a career 3.20 ERA, 15 complete games, 10 shutouts, 2,025.2 innings pitched, 1,988 strikeouts, and a 136 ERA+. Santana’s numbers are like Sandy Koufax’s which are not as dominant as The Left Arm of God’s but still believe that the Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee should think of electing him to Cooperstown. No matter if he gets into the Hall of Fame or not, he still has a spot in the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame.

Sources

Baltimore Orioles Agree to Minor League Deal with Two-time Cy Young Winner Johan Santana (Updated). Archived on March 5, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20140305093041/http://www.sportsmedia101.com/baltimoreorioles/2014/03/04/baltimore-orioles-nearing-minor-league-deal-with-two-time-cy-young-winner-johan-santana/

CBS News New York. 30 March 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2022, from https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/mets-starter-johan-santana-set-for-season-ending-surgery-on-tuesday/

Fitzpatrick, Mike. (5 April 2012). Santana goes 5 innings, Mets beat Braves 1-0. boston.com. Archived on January 18, 2003. Retrieved April 25, 2022, from http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2012/04/05/santana_goes_5_innings_mets_beat_braves_1_0/?camp=pm

Johan Santana Stats. Baseball Reference. Retrieved April 25, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/santajo02.shtml

Minnesota Twins series records. mcubed.net. Retrieved April 25, 2022, from http://mcubed.net/mlb/min/series1.shtml

Rubin, Adam (14 June 2013). Johan visits Mets at Citi Field. EPSN.com. Retrieved April 25, 2022, from https://www.espn.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/69522/johan-visits-mets-while-in-new-york