Johan Alexander Santana Araque (; born March 13, 1979) is a
Venezuelan former
professional baseball starting pitcher
In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...
. Santana pitched in
Major League Baseball (MLB) for the
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...
from 2000 to 2007 and for the
New York Mets from 2008 to 2012. A two-time
Cy Young Award
The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall ...
winner with the Twins, Santana is a four-time All-Star and earned a
pitching triple crown in 2006. On June 1, 2012, Santana pitched the first
no-hitter
In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...
in New York Mets history against the
St. Louis Cardinals.
Professional career
Santana was discovered in 1994 by Andres Reiner, who was a
scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
*Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
**Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
**Scouts BSA, sectio ...
working for the
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...
at the time.
Santana's parents agreed to let him attend Houston's academy in Valencia. When Astros scouting director Dan O'Brien calle