How Johan Santana Dominated an Era of Baseball

a really fun baseball question I like to toss around is asking people what their fondest I was there for that game is in their life friends of mine have seen no hitters play off clinchers walk off Grand Slams you name it me one time I saw Johann Santana hit a home run at Citi Field that's my claim to fame baby I feel like everyone remembers the Ace of their first baseball team that they followed really well I'd been a Mets fan my whole life but when I started watching games every single day in 2008 the Ace of the club was the recent trade acquisition Johann Santana there was something beautiful about watching him take the ball every fifth day and toss his devastating change up that could befuddle any hitter no matter how many times they saw it no matter how good they were for a guy that dominated for nearly a decade of Play I Was stunned at how quickly Johan's career unraveled the two-time Cy Young winner was out of the league at just age 34. so maybe me and you should kick back for the next 15 minutes and talk about just how good nohan was and why exactly things turned out the way they did guys if you enjoyed today's video make sure you leave a like And subscribe to the channel for any future videos that you might enjoy as well Johan Santana first got his nod from the Astros patrolling center field as a red-faced 16 year old Prospect the Astros witnessed his arm strength firsthand and determined that he had a more fruitful path ahead of him as a pitcher the thing is Johan hated pitching and almost quit ahead of signing his first amateur contract through three minor league Seasons it looked as though his initial Downs held some weight johann's era never fell below 4.5 in three separate seasons and he never Advanced past High a ball come the end of the 1999 season the Astros decided to leave him unprotected in the Rule 5 draft yeah that's right Johann Santana was a Rule 5 draft pick even though the twins got their guy Santana's flamethrowing stuff still wasn't enough to find success especially when Minnesota threw him into the majors after never pitching a single double-a game in his first two seasons yolan's era neared 6.0 and over 120 Innings as both he and the twins floundered Midway through 2001 he rightfully earned a demotion back to AAA the twins wanted Santana to find a true killer secondary pitch before he returned and for AAA pitching coach Bobby queller that meant mastering the art of the changeup his minor league pitching coach made him throw it to every batter he faced for 10 starts in a row sometimes Johan would be forced to throw it 20 times in a row it was a slow process towards building confidence in it but it was an effective one as well in 2002 when Santana got another crack at the majors he was once again the team's long reliever and spot starter but this was a special twins team in fact I made a whole video about them but for a starting rotation led by the criminally underrated Brad Radke and Rick Reed Johan became an essential piece as the twins battled injuries at times Santana was the best arm in that rotation as the changing speeds of his Dynamic Arsenal was proving to be a lethal weapon in the first great month of his career in June of that year Santana pitched to an Era under two in five starts down the stretch he was invaluable out of the pen helping the twins return to the playoffs and even win the American League Division Series against the Oakland A's Johann Santana was getting so good that dudes were literally changing their names just to make it in the league you know how good you gotta be to get someone with the same name to literally fold on it love you Irvin Santana but little did every extremely nice and easy going twins fan realized the best was Yet to Come Santana would start the 2003 season again as the long release favor but through his Excellence on the mound and more injuries to Minnesota's staff he became a member of the rotation by the second half after a 10 and 16 month of July sunk them to a 500 record in third place in the AL Central Johan put the twins on his back every fifth day he took home his first pitcher of the month honor in August of 2003 with six starts of an era a smidge over 1.0 as the Twins won five of those games after another playoff berth and first round exit there was no doubt in anyone's mind going forward Santana belonged at the top of the rotation although 2004 would be a memorable year for reasons we'll get into soon it didn't actually get off to a hot start many fans probably forget just how much Johan labored through the first dozen starts of the season with an era of 5.50 and a little under 70 Innings but then he found his changeup again and kicked things into gear he won four starts in a row to close out June never throwing less than seven innings in July he tossed his first career complete Game shutout tossing eight Innings or more in four of his six starts with an era near one after winning pitcher of the month that month he did it again next month going 6-0 in August with three double digit strikeout games he won pitcher of the month again and then somehow did it again in September as well and arguably the most dominant month of his career Santana tossed 31 consecutive scoreless Innings won five more starts in a row and struck out 52 batters and 40 Innings with just two earned runs allowed total Santana became one of just 13 pitchers in the expansion era to hold an era under half a run with 40 Innings pitched in a single month he's one of just five to do so since the year 2000 the most recent being Jake Arrieta in 2015. the key was still his change up but the thing is it was only getting stronger as he threw his fastball harder he maintained the devastating speed drop with his strikeout pitch according to fangraphs Santana's changeup average 78.3 miles per hour about 15 miles per hour slower than his 92.4 mile per hour heater that could sometimes touch 95. feel so good maybe I should drive will you do is fast all you do is there's speed that's how you wait inside yeah just give me the keys are you sure you want the key give me the keys no it was a historic second half of pitching for Johan his 1.21 era and 15 starts and over 100 Innings is the fourth best Mark of the expansion era and his undefeated record of 13-0 broke the record previously set by Rick Sutcliffe and he set the all-time Twins record with 265 strikeouts total eating out burp Bly 11. unsurprisingly Santana was named the unanimous Cy Young winner in the American League That season beating out Kurt Schilling this was a season where he led the league in earn run average strikeouts Fielding independent pitching whip hit per 9 rate and strikeout per nine raid except for era he led in all of those aforementioned categories for the next two years as well emerging as the top dog pitcher in the American League he probably should have won the Scion again in 2005 if not for his low win total of 16 compared to winner Bartolo Colon's season and total of 21 wins yet I remember what era we're dealing he corrected that wrong in 2006 by putting together the largest volume season of his career and absolutely dominating while he was at it he completed the season leading the majors in Era at 2.77 and strikeouts at 245. Johan was just the 14th pitcher in MLB history at the time to win multiple Scions and had he won in 2005 like he probably should have he would have been the third ever to three-peat the award alongside Randy Johnson and Greg Maddox with his 245 punch outs here he became the third pitcher in the expansion era to strike out 230 batters or more three seasons in a row while also managing a whip under one the Minnesota Twins had the greatest Ace in the game and even though he performed in the playoffs they remained a one and done team never advancing past the ALDS despite his efforts Midway through the 2007 season Santana grew more and more disgruntled with the direction of Minnesota's franchise Johan was understandably upset and didn't hold back much at all when talking to the media about the team and his future despite triggering a no trade clause initially with his second Cy Young win it became clear that Johann Santana wished to depart from Minnesota they made the ultimately difficult decision to deal away the face of their franchise instead of paying him a massive contract in the end Johan became a met in return for a package of prospects that never really panned out at least in Minnesota right after the trade Johann and the Mets agreed to a huge six-year deal worth 137.5 million dollars leading into the 2008 season this was a big season for both sides pitching in a new league in a new stadium with new fans and new aspirations Santana picked up exactly where he left off at age 29 Santana sent new career best in Innings pitched in Era spearheading a depleted Mets pitching staff competing for a playoff spot through the end of the season though he somehow wasn't named an All-Star Santana finished third in Cy Young voting and received MVP votes for the third time in his career Santana while still dominant was losing the edge that he once had in Minnesota specifically in terms of strikeouts his cape per nine rate was just 7.9 this season two units down from his average of the previous four years he also had to work a lot harder in 2008 than he ever had to before facing a career-high 964 batters and throwing just short of 3600 pitches also a career high but he came up especially big in September of that year where he was once again pitcher of the month and six September starts Johan never allowed more than two runs throwing 44 into third innings in this month alone his last two starts were easily his finest of the whole season giving the Mets a much needed win against the Cubs with eight Innings and 10 strikeouts and then following that up with a masterpiece against the Marlins where he threw a career-high 125 pitches in his second shutout of the Season helping the Mets tie for a wild card spot before the final game of the season the Mets wouldn't Prevail in the end but Santana did absolutely everything he could to try and get his new team into the playoffs unbelievably he did all of this and probably more while pitching with a torn meniscus in his left knee which he underwent surgery for as soon as the season ended but the closing of the 2008 season concluded a historic five-year period for Johann Santana as the best pitcher in the major leagues definitively in a five-year period from 2004 to 2008 Johan LED all major league starters and wins above replacement era whip strikeouts strike out to wall crate and left on base rate he became one of just four left-handed pitchers in MLB history with four or more seasons of over 200 strikeouts and era plus better than 150 joining Randy Johnson Clayton Kershaw and Sandy Koufax we've been saying those names a lot this video but after his knee surgery injuries became more of a common theme as Santana entered his 30s he enjoyed a great 2009 season but it was cut short by a season-ending arthroscopic surgery in mid-august the following year in 2010 Johan once again pitched just four months of the season this time watching from the sidelines after surgery to a torn muscle in his throwing shoulder he'd missed the entirety of 2011 as well recovering from the injury to his left shoulder it had been three seasons in a row cut short by injury after that marvelous 2008 season and with two years left on the deal many wondered if Johan would be able to even finish out the contract in the first place I don't think anyone thought the end would be nearing for Johan back in 2008 at 29 years old but four years later no one was expecting a full season from the Southpaw Ace but before his untimely depart Archer from the game he had one more special chapter left to right in his already storied pitching career after much doubt Santana returned to the mound for opening day in 2012 throwing five shutout Innings Dan uglived the Braves remarked that the injuries hadn't dim Santana's spark he was still capable of being the AC once was if he could stay healthy through the first two months of the Season that seemed like the case Johann managed a 2.75 era in 10 starts closing May with a shutout against the Padres little did he know he'd be going out for all nine innings in his next start as well as the Mets played host to the St Louis Cardinals to this day Johann remarked that he did not have his best stuff for the start dueling Adam Wainwright on the other side he walked four batters through five innings and sat at 79 pitches entering the sixth inning with no hits on the board Johan and Mets fans caught the break of all breaks when umpire Adrian Johnson blew a call on this Carlos Beltran liner to left which clearly hit the chalk on the foul line the next inning local kid Mike Baxter put his body on the line to make this heroic catch in left field the stars were beginning to align for a fan base who had not seen a no hitter and over 8 000 games in franchise history Santana got through the eighth but was already three pitches shy of his career high on his surgically repaired throwing shoulder where the Mets about to let him go back out there with all this risk involved well according to Johan the decision was never going to be up to them with that have gone if he tried to remove you at some point in that game no chance they asked me how I was feeling I was like I feel fine don't worry about it you know you have to be in that in that situation and I had an opportunity to do something special but I'll tell you if I want to give up ahead I would have walked my my way out of the out of the out of the mound like that too and the rest was history Santana walked back out and secured the job with a staggering final pitch count of 134 striking out David freeze to end it fans Cry tears of joy one even ran out onto the field to celebrate with the team and he was promptly tackled for a fan base tortured by recent years of disappointment and mediocrity it was a truly special night for the orange and blue people still argue about it to this day but the fact is he just wasn't the same pitcher ever again after this outing a sprained right ankle and back inflammation ended his season in August once again and in 2013 he re-tored the muscle in his throwing shoulder his legacy might be defined by could have bins and injuries but Johann Santana accomplished so much during his decade run of Brilliance on the mound with two Cy Young's three strikeout crowns an era title in each league and a no-hitter to go along with it Johan will go down as one of the greatest pitchers of the 21st century and one of the greatest left-handed starters to ever toe the Rubber and for me nostalgically he's the first guy I watched take the mound every fifth day as my team's Ace there's a lot of Beauty in that I think speaking as a fan hey everyone I hope you enjoyed today's video I got interrupted really quick to tell you about today's sponsor Shady Rays guys you can take on the sun this summer with gear built to last or get yourself a nice pair of blue light glasses so you don't get your eyes strained from staring at your screen all day Shady Rays make some of the best 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Channel: Jolly Olive

Views: 55,548

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Id: rGEfMKPEKxo

Length: 13min 57sec (837 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 25 2023