Johan Santana



Johan Santana threw two good innings in a spring training game against the St. Louis Cardinals yesterday. In the two innings of work, he allowed one hit, no runs, and one base on balls. The encouraging sign was put into perspective by Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina when he said, "He threw me one, I just didn't see it. He had me fooled." Referring to Santana's changeup.

That is the most encouraging part of yesterday's outing in my perspective. Santana has always been known to have the best changeup in baseball when he is healthy. That is the main reason why he has been successful. Or in the past few season, what has been his achilles heel. In his dominanat seasons, his changeup is unhittable. When he has had his down year's, it has been because his changeup is not fooling batters.

In recent years, the gap between his fastball and changeup has grown closer. Which makes the pitch easier to hit. When he is healthy, the difference between the two pitches can be 10 MPH, if not more. Mets fans can't expect Santana to perform like a Cy Young candidate, even though that would be nice, but they can expect an ERA around 3.50 or lower and about 25 starts from him. The Mets will win a lot more games if Johan Santana can be affective this upcoming season.