Ervin Santana

[William Malone]

Johan Ramon Santana was born on December 12, 1982 in the Dominican Republic. He legally changed his first name to Ervin in 2003.

The Anaheim Angels signed him as an amateur free agent in 2000. He made his Major League debut for them in 2005, after the franchise had changed their name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Santana spent the first eight years of his big league career with the Angels, going 96-80 with a 4.33 ERA over 233 starts. He was an All-Star in 2008, and pitched a no-hitter in 2011.

He was acquired by the Kansas City Royals in a trade on October 31, 2012. Santana had a career best 3.24 ERA in 32 starts with the Royals in 2013, and became a free agent after declining the qualifying offer.

Despite having a career year in 2013, the free agent market wasn’t good to Santana. He remained unsigned as spring training began. After asking for six and seven year deals throughout the off-season, Santana fired his agent and began searching for a one year deal. A verbal agreement with the Toronto Blue Jays fell through at the last minute, and he eventually signed with the Atlanta Braves on March 12th. Santana 14-10 with a 3.95 ERA during his lone season in Atlanta.

Free agency was a much smoother process for Santana the following off-season. He inked a four year deal with the Minnesota Twins in early December, but his Twins tenure got off to a rocky start when he was suspended for the first 80 games of 2015 due to a failed PED test. Santana went 7-5 with a 4.00 ERA in 17 starts during the 2015 season.

He established himself as the Twins ace in 2016. His 7-11 record that season was due to poor run support on a 103 loss team, but his 3.38 ERA was good for tenth in the American League. Santana was even better in 2017, getting named an All-Star for the second time in his career. His five complete games and three shutouts both led the Majors. He was also fifth in the American League with a 3.28 ERA.

The 2017 AL Wild Card Game didn’t go so well for Santana, as he allowed four runs over two innings. Somehow, this was still a better performance than Yankees starter Luis Severino. But the Yankees bullpen was better than the Twins bullpen that night, and Minnesota’s postseason run ended after just one game.

Santana underwent finger surgery right before the start of spring training in 2018, delaying the start of his season for several months. He returned to the big league mound on July 25th, but was shut down after five starts as his discomfort continued. Santana became a free agent after the 2018 season.

He signed a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox that winter, and had his contract selected in early April. His 9.45 ERA with the White Sox saw him get designated for assignment after just three starts.

Santana sat out the 2020 season unsigned, which was ultimately shortened to just 60 games because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He returned to the Royals organization on a minor league deal for the 2021 season, and was re-called to Major League duty on April 13th. Santana spent most of the 2021 campaign in a long relief role. He had a 4.68 ERA over 65.1 innings, which was accumulated over 36 relief appearances and two spot starts.

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