So far, Santana has been everything the Mets could have hoped for and so much more. Were it not for his poor (read: pitiful) run support, Santana would likely be 4 or 5 - 1 right now, with his only loss coming in his 1.1IP start in Atlanta. If you remove that one start, his ERA drops to 1.51. Despite diminished velocity (his fastball is averaging 88.4mph vs. 89.6 in 2010), Santana has shown that he can still succeed. He offsets his fastball by a full 10mph with his circle change up (arguably once the best out pitch in baseball), and shows a competitive fire matched by few. His 9.9 K/9IP will likely drop (he has averaged 7.6 with the Mets), but so should his 3.5 BB/9IP. Coming into this season, we viewed anything from Santana as a gift. Going forward, it seems safe to say that Johan is here to say, but don't take it for granted. Santana was one of baseball's elite pitchers for years, and a return to the top, though unlikely, isn't entirely out of the question. After the work he's put in so far, it's hard to doubt what he can accomplish.
Not that I'm trying to pat myself on the back here, but look at his numbers since then:
5 GS, 2 SHO, 37 IP, 2-1, 2.19 ERA, 24 H, 34 K, 9 BB
He's been dominant. Five of those nine walks came in just one of those starts [Fun fact! It was a no-hitter]. Since allowing a game-tying home run in Pittsburgh on May 21st, he hasn't allowed a run. Since his 4-out outing in Atlanta on April 17th, he's pitched at least six innings every time out. And dammit, he's getting better. Santana has never thrown more than two shutouts in a season. He's thrown [a major-league leading] two in the past week. He's still not perfect with his control, but it's not slowing him down. Forgive the optimism, but there's a chance that he hasn't yet reached his best. Pitching coach Dan Warthen said last week that we would see a different Johan Santana around the beginning of June. How's 4 hits over his last 18 innings sound?
Coming into this season, Santana was a major question mark. Now he's an exclamation point. His 2.38 ERA entering today was 6th in the National League entering play. He's 6th in the National League in strikeouts (R.A. Dickey is 4th); his .200 average against is 4th and his WHIP is 8th. He's on pace for 200 innings AND strikeouts this year. Johan Santana is back.
Believe it!
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