Johan Santana

From BR Bullpen

Johan Santana (Supernatural)

Bats	Throws
Left	Left
Height	Weight
6'0"	195 lb.
School
NA
Drafted	Debut
Undrafted^[1]
Born
March 13 1979 in Tovar Merida, Venezuela
BR Pages
BR Page
BR Minors Page

Johan Alexander Santana was born on March 13, 1979, in the remote town of Tovar, located in the Merida section of Venezuela. Known for its soccer players, cyclists and artists, this region had never produced a major leaguer, but there were some quality players in town, including Johan’s father, Jesus, a full-time engineer and highly regarded part-time semipro shortstop. Johan's older brother, Franklin, also showed real promise. In fact, Jesus thought he had the most potential in the family.

Johan, a natural lefty, emulated his father in every way. When he was told lefthanders didn't traditionally play shortstop, he taught himself how to gun the ball across the infield with his right arm. Johan also played the outfield. For these throws, he used his left arm.

Johan’s idols were fellow flychasers Rickey Henderson and Ken Griffey Jr. And like all boys in Venezuela, he worshiped All-Star countrymen Dave Concepcion and Andres Galarraga. Despite possessing plenty of talent and enthusiasm, Johan’s first youth baseball tryout ended badly. The team’s coach sent him away, claiming he was dressed improperly. The next day he returned wearing his father’s jersey. When the same coached realized whose son he was, he received a much warmer welcome.

As a teenager, Johan settled into the centerfield job for his local team, the Chiquilines. He was not the best player on the club—Johan did not possess blazing speed and was not a dominant hitter—but he was a terrific athlete just waiting to grow into his body. Like Henderson, he was also a bit of a hot dog. Indeed, Johan loved to elicit oohs and aahs from the crowd with harder-than-necessary catches.

1 Early Playing Days
2 Johan as a Pitching Prospect
3 His Breakout Season
4 2004
5 Notable Achievements
6 Notes
7 Related Sites

[edit] Early Playing Days

Every year the Chiquilines would compete in the national baseball tournament, and every year they would go much farther than anyone expected. Pro scouts began looking closely at the Chiquilines kids, and that is when they first noticed Johan. The problem was getting to where he played. There’s the middle of nowhere, and then there’s the middle of nowhere in Venezuela.

Andres Reiner, a scout for the Houston Astros, liked Johan enough to drive 10 hours through the Andes to his house. This happened during the 1994 baseball strike, when Reiner had been instructed not to spend any money. He was so excited about Johan that he dug into his own pockets to hire a car. Reiner rang the doorbell, and the teenager answered. He told the boy that he had the arm to pitch professionally.

When Reiner looked at Johan, he saw major-league pitching talent. The Astros agreed, and moved him to the mound when he joined their Dominican Summer League team in 1996. The gangly 17-year-old hurled 40 innings, primarily in relief, and enemy batters managed a meager .178 average against him.

In 1997, Johan was promoted to Houston’s Kissimmee affiliate in the Gulf Coast League, where he threw 36 innings of relief and got hit hard. He also started a game for the Auburn Doubeldays of the New York-Penn League at the end of the year. Johan was back in Auburn for most of the 1998 season, where he regained his form as a starter, winning seven games and racking up 88 strikeouts in 87 innings

[edit] Johan as a Pitching Prospect

Johan spent the entire 1999 campaign with the Michigan Battle Cats of the Class A Midwest League, under the tutelage of Al Pedrique, who would later manage the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Astros stockpiled Pedrique’s pitching staff with a group of top prospects, including Roy Oswalt, Tim Redding, Mike Gallo, Jacob Whitney and Mike Nannini. Johan led the staff in starts with 26, going 8-8 with a 4.66 ERA and a team-high 150 strikeouts in 160 innings.

For the second straight season, he showed improvement in his fastball, curve and change, and showed arm strength well beyond his 20 years. Unfortunately, the Astros felt Johan was still years away from wearing a Houston uniform. When they had to set their 40-man roster, the last spot came down to Johan and teammate Aaron McNeal, who was coming off a 38-homer 131-RBI season. They opted for McNeal, exposing the young lefty in the Rule 5 draft.

Johan and Jared Camp of the Cleveland Indians were the top two hurlers available. The Twins had the first selection and wanted Johan. The Florida Marlins, choosing second, wanted Camp. GM Terry Ryan agreed to take Camp then swap him for Johan and some cash. Minnesota was compelled to keep Johan on the major league roster for a year. They felt he could fill a role at the back of the bullpen, then either move into middle relief or go to the minors in 2001.

The team had time on its side. The 2000 edition of the Twins had a group of young hitters at various stages of development, including Torii Hunter, Jacque Jones, Cristian Guzman, David Ortiz, A.J. Pierzynski and Corey Koskie. Their starting pitching was promising, with Brad Radke, Mark Redman, Joe Mays and Eric Milton.

The bullpen, however, was shaky. Johan joined the pen as a mop-up man and spot starter. He got hammered to the tune of a 6.49 ERA, but convinced the Twins that he belonged on the roster the following year. Unlike many Rule 5 draftees, who simply assume they will be shipped back down after a year, Johan did whatever he could to stick around.

[edit] His Breakout Season

The Twins entered 2003 as the team to beat in the A.L. Central—and they did not disappoint. Minnesota edged the White Sox and Royals with 90 wins despite losing slugger David Ortiz to free agency. Veteran Kenny Rogers was added to the starting staff (after Milton hurt his knee in spring training) and pitched well, an important development because Mays and Rick Reed did not.

Johan was annoyed by what he considered to be the team’s lack of confidence in him as a starter, but Gardenhire felt he was still more valuable as his rally-killer out of the bullpen.

In July, the club finally decided to give Johan a shot. The move went against the manager’s better instincts, but Minnesota did not have the cash to sign an impact pitcher down the stretch. Johan provided that impact and then some, and helped to keep the Twins ahead of the surging Sox. His biggest victory came on September 10th, after Chicago won the first two games of a key four-game set. Johan shut down the White Sox and the Twins never looked back.

Johan wound up at 12-3, with a 3.07 ERA and 169 strikeouts in 159 innings. A perfect 8-0 down the stretch, he was Minnesota's ace heading into the post-season. The only glitch in Johan’s season was a balky hamstring, which he had injured during winter ball in Venezuela. It cramped up during a September outing against Texas, forcing him to leave the mound.

That hamstring would come back into play during the Division Series against the New York Yankees. Johan was mastering the Bronx Bombers in Game One when he was unable to take the hill in the fifth inning. His leg cramped so badly he had to be carried from the dugout to the trainer’s room. The Twins won, but wondered whether their best pitcher would be able to recover in time for his Game Four start.

[edit] 2004

For the 2004 campaign, the Twins would need Johan to repeat his '03 performance and then some. With Guardado and Hawkins lost to free agency, and Joe Nathan an unproven closer, Gardenhire worried that his bullpen might not hold up. Also gone was Pierzynski, replaced by phenom Joe Mauer. But the young catcher hurt his knee right out of the gate, further weakening the Minnesota lineup. The good news was that Shannon Stewart—picked up the previous summer at the trade deadline—was re-signed for '04.

Johan was surprisingly underwhelming early in the season. He faced the Indians in the second game of the year, and gave up two runs in four innings, before leaving with left forearm spasms. Back for his next start, Johan was still searching for his rhythm on the mound. In fact, over his first six appearances, he allowed 23 runs in just over 39 innings. At the All-Star break, his record was barely above .500.

Johan opened the second half with a victory over the White Sox, hurling six innings of one-run ball. It soon became clear that he had taken that next step as a pitcher. The lefty was setting up batters and finishing them off in ways that made them look ridiculous at times. Whereas in the past he required a few innings to get all of his pitches functioning, now they were all there when he first toed the rubber. Instead of just winging it down the middle, Johan was hitting spots with all his pitches and relying on natural movement to nip the edges. Able to pitch inside with more confidence, he transformed himself into a special pitcher.

A scorching July vaulted Johan ahead of Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling in the AL strikeout race. The only thing keeping him from joining the league leaders in victories was Minnesota's sluggish offense. Heading into August, rather than fading under the pressure of high expectations, Johan turned it up another notch. He fashioned a one-hitter against the Royals to end a losing streak that threatened to kill his club’s chances at another division title. A couple of weeks later, he matched Martinez strikeout for strikeout in a classic pitching duel that had Pedro raving about him.

At this point, Johan was pitching historic baseball. His stats for August were staggering—just 10 earned runs and 52 strikeouts in 43.1 innings—with victories coming against Boston, Oakland, New York, Seattle, Texas, and Anaheim. His sweetest W came against the Yankees in front of a near-capacity crowd...in Minnesota. Johan handled the Bronx Bombers 7-2, on national television.

He went onto win six more in September, with a mind-blowing 0.45 ERA and 52 strikeouts for the second consecutive month. He limited opponents to less than a baserunner an inning, and put himself into contention for the Cy Young. Overall, Johan ended the second half with a 13-0 record, plus a 1.18 ERA and .154 opponents’ batting average.

After wrapping up the AL Central by nine games, the Twins packed their bags and headed east to face the Yanks in a rematch of their '03 ALDS. Gardenhire handed Johan the ball in Game One, and the lefty delivered a 2-0 victory with seven scoreless innings. When Minnesota dropped the next two—including a painful extra-inning loss in New York—Johan was forced to take the hill on short rest in the Game Four. The Yankees waited him out, pusing his pitch count to 87 through five innings. Out of gas, he departed up 4-1, confident the bullpen would protect the lead. But the Yanks rallied for four runs in the eighth inning, and the Minnesota bats did not respond. All things considered, Johan did his job in the '04 playoffs—12 innings over two games, with a win and a 0.75 ERA.

all this is from http://www.jockbio.com/Bios/Santana/Santana_bio.html

Santana struck out 17 in a 1-0 win on August 19, 2007, to set a new Minnesota Twins single-game record. The old mark had been 15. Santana allowed two hits and no walks in 8 innings before giving way to reliever Joe Nathan for the 9th of a 1-0 pitchers' duel against Kevin Millwood.