WHY I THINK JOHAN SANTANA SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN
By- Damien
Johan Santana was easily one of the greatest pitchers of his time, and he competed against starters like Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and Greg Maddux for that honor for most of his career. He dominated batters with a speeding fastball, a great circle changeup, and a devastating slider. Santana went 139-78 lifetime with a 3.20 ERA and 1,988 strikeouts. He won two Cy Young Awards and three ERA titles, led the AL in strikeouts three times, won the pitching Triple Crown in 2006, and even won a perfect fielding title and a Gold Glove award in 2007. Johan Santana started his career with the Twins in 2000, going 2-3. He went 1-0 in 2001 and 8-6 in 2002 before establishing himself as one of the best starters in baseball with a 12-3 record in 2003. Santana went 20-6 in 2004 with a league leading 2.61 ERA and won his first Cy Young Award. He went 16-7 in 2005 and finished third in the Cy Young Award voting, and 19-6 with his second ERA title in 2006 to win the award again. After a 15-13 season Santana was traded to the Mets. He went 16-7 and won his third and final ERA title and finished third in the Cy Young Award voting in 2008. He went 13-9 and 11-9 after that before taking the 2011 season off. He went 6-9 in 2012 and though he signed with the Orioles in 2014 and the Blue Jays in 2015, he never appeared in another MLB game. Johan Santana was an excellent pitcher who stood out in an era that was full of great hitting. His overall play was worthy of a place in Cooperstown.
LIFETIME STATISTICS
Games Pitched career: 360 season high: 45 in 2003
Starts career: 284 season high: 34 in 2004, 2006 and 2008 led AL: 34 in 2006 led NL: 34 in 2008
Complete Games career: 15 season high: 4 in 2010
Shutouts career: 10 season high: 2 in 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2012
Games Finished career: 23 season high: 9 in 2000
Wins career: 139 season high: 20 in 2004 led AL: 19 in 2006
Losses career: 78 season high: 13 in 2007
Winning Percentage career: .641 season high: .769 in 2004
ERA career: 3.20 season low: 2.53 in 2008 led AL: 2.61 in 2004, 2.77 in 2006 led NL: 2.53 in 2008
WHIP career: 1.132 season low: 0.921 in 2004 led AL: 0.921 in 2004, 0.971 in 2005, 0.997 in 2006, 1.073 in 2007
Innings Pitched career: 2,025 ⅔ season high: 234 ⅓ in 2008 led AL: 233 ⅔ in 2006 led NL: 234 ⅓ in 2008
Strikeouts career: 1,988 season high: 265 in 2004 led AL: 265 in 2004, 238 in 2005, 245 in 2006
Strikeouts Per Nine Innings career: 8.8 season high: 10.5 in 2004 led AL: 10.5 in 2004, 9.2 in 2005, 9.4 in 2006
Walks career: 567 (13 intentional) season high: 63 in 2008
Strikeouts Per Walk career: 3.51 season high: 5.29 in 2005
Saves career: 1 season high: 1 in 2002
Fielding Percentage career: .946 season high: 1.000 in 2007 led AL P: 1.000 in 2007
Double Plays career: 16 season high: 3 in 2009
Putouts career: 98 season high: 14 in 2007
Assists career: 232 season high: 32 in 2006
DID YOU KNOW?
-nicknamed “No-han”
-had a .453 career caught stealing percentage at pitcher
-was a four time all-star
-won the AL TSN Pitcher of the Year award in both 2004 and 2006
-struck out 200 or more batters five years in a row
-his 265 strikeouts in 2004 set the Minnesota Twins season record
-pitched an 8-0 no-hitter against the Cardinals on June 1, 2012, which was the first no-hitter in New York Mets history
-finished sixth in the AL MVP voting in seventh in 2006 and 14th in the NL MVP race in 2008
-was fifth in the AL Cy Young Award voting in 2007 and seventh in 2003
-won eight Pitcher of the Month awards and five Player of the Week awards
-had the highest salary in the NL from 2010 through 2013
-led the NL in batters faced (964) in 2008
-struck out 17 batters in one game on August 19, 2007, setting a Twins team record
-went 1-3 with a 3.97 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 34 innings in postseason play
-hit five doubles in 2008 and three in both 2009 and 2010
-had the most wins without a loss in the second half of a season in 2004 (13)
-allowed the fewest hits per nine innings in the AL in 2004 (6.2), 2005 (7.0), and 2006 (7.2)
-struck out David Ortiz for the 1,000th of his career
-was inducted into the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame in 2018
This is one guy I actually agree with you on. From 2002-2010 he was one of the top pitchers in baseball. Granted, he did almost literally nothing outside of that, but I think 9 years of 150 ERA+ pitching gets you a ticket to the hall of fame.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about Jose Rijo? He was actually very similar to Johan Santana.
There are certainly a lot of similarities between the two. Jose Rijo, to me, is sort of like Santana but less dominant with slightly less impressive statistics in a much better era in which to pitch. I don't think that Rijo is a Hall of Famer, but if you want me to, I can do a special article on him like with Gene Tenace.
DeleteI don't think he's a hall of famer either. But he certainly was great from 1988 to 1994, with a 2.63 ERA and 147 ERA+. If he had 3 or 5 more good seasons, I'd say he was a hall of famer.
DeleteI can agree with you on that.
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