Johan Santana Fan Site

Johan Santana Biography

Santana was born in Tovar, Mrida 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 named the Tovar Mrida 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. Johan is married with two children his wife, Yasmile, and two daughters, Jasmily & Jasmine.

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 a tailing changeup that is considered one of best changeups in baseball, if not the best. 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 won his last eight decisions and pitched the ALDS opening game against the Yankees.

2006 Season

Santana won the pitching Triple Crown for the whole Majors, the first person to do so 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 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 Martnez, 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. He has established himself as one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball today. If Johan continues to have success he may have a shot of making the Hall of Fame.