Three players were elected for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday night as Ichiro Suzuki, Billy Wagner and CC Sabathia will make their way into Cooperstown this summer. While all three are deserving, the election of Sabathia should grab the attention of Minnesota Twins fans and specifically those who remember the career of Johan Santana.
Santana wasn’t eligible for this year’s ballot as voters punted the former Twins ace with 2.4 percent of the vote during his first year of eligibility in 2018. But Santana’s track record of being one of the most dominant pitchers of the 2000s should count for something especially compared to Sabathia’s career.
Missing Cy Young Award may have kept Johan Santana out of the Hall of Fame
The Twins saw their longest run of sustained success with four American League Central titles in five years and Santana was a big reason why. The left-hander ranked first in ERA (2.83) and wins above replacement (30.3); second in strikeouts (1054) and eighth in wins (75) from 2002-06.
While Santana’s numbers were elite, they were also of historical significance and compared favorably to another Hall of Famer, Sandy Koufax. But while Santana also won a pair of Cy Young Awards in 2004 and 2006 it may have been the one he didn’t win that kept him out of the Hall of Fame.
The 2005 season was a disappointment for Twins fans as they missed the playoffs for the first time in three years. But Santana wasn’t the issue, going 16-7 with a 2.87 ERA and an MLB-leading 238 strikeouts in 231.2 innings pitched. While the performance should have netted him his second Cy Young Award, voters saw it differently giving Bartolo Colón of the Los Angeles Angels the award after going 21-8 with a 3.48 ERA and 157 strikeouts in 222.2 innings.
“I think everybody in our locker room was surprised just because we get to see it every day, see what he brings to the table every day,” Twins Hall of Famer Joe Mauer told The Athletic’s Dan Hayes in 2020. “I know that year we had some injuries. The wins, he probably should have had a lot more with what he did. We were all kind of surprised because we knew we had one of the best pitchers in the game in our locker room.”
Had Santana won, it would have given him three Cy Young Awards after rebounding to win in 2006. Of the players with three or more Cy Young Awards only Max Scherzer (still active), Clayton Kershaw (still active) and Roger Clemens (PEDs) are not in the Hall of Fame, causing Santana to be a glaring omission before Sabathia was elected on Tuesday.
Johan Santana has a more deserving Hall of Fame case than CC Sabathia
Sabathia had a tremendous career and became a throwback pitcher in an era where managers have a quick hook on their starters. Sabathia became the first pitcher to win 250 games since Andy Pettite did it in 2013 and his 3,577.1 innings pitched were the most since Joe Niekro retired with 3,584.1 innings in 1988.
Mix in 3,093 career strikeouts, a solid 3.74 ERA, a Cy Young Award in 2007 and a World Series title with the New York Yankees in 2009 and you have a more than deserving resume for a first-ballot Hall of Famer. But it may not be as convincing as Santana’s case was in his lone year of the ballot.
Santana only pitched 12 years but it was the same number as Koufax, who is in the Hall of Fame. Santana also had a lower career ERA (3.20), a higher strikeout rate (24.1%) and lower walk rate (6.9%) than Sabathia had during his career but also won three ERA titles, a Gold Glove Award and a Triple Crown, leading the American League in wins, strikeouts and ERA in 2006.
Some people will point to Santana’s longevity as the key reason he’s not in the hall but Santana didn’t post an ERA over 4.00 as a starter until his final season with the New York Mets in 2012. The fact his career ended with a “disappointing” tenure with the Mets (46-34, 3.18 ERA) may also sway voters but it could come down to Hunter’s comments about Santana’s missing Cy Young Award in 2005 that made the difference.
“If Johan had been with the Yankees or somewhere that had a bigger market than Minnesota, he would have made more All-Star [teams], he would have got more recognition, he would have got more media time and people would have known his name. Johan was deserving [of the 2005 Cy Young Award.] But because of the market he was in, he didn’t get no respect.”
This isn’t saying Sabathia shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame but it’s another reminder that the voting process is flawed. A pitcher as dominant as Santana was should be in the Hall of Fame and if the Twins had won a playoff game while Santana was at his peak, maybe he and some other Twins legends would have found themselves in Cooperstown like Sabathia will this summer.