Johan Alexander Santana Araque is a professional free agent baseball player born on 13th March 1979 in Tovar, Merida, Venezuela. He was a starting pitcher for the Minnesota Twins in Major League Baseball from 2000-2007 and then for the New York Mets from 2008-2012. This acclaimed athlete has won the Cy Young Award twice, and earned a pitching triple crown in 2006.
Have you ever wondered how rich Johan Santana is? According to sources it has been estimated that Johan Santana’s overall net worth is $65 million as of early 2016. Santana has acquired his enormous wealth thanks to his extraordinary sports career in contracts he has signed with different baseball teams. Since he is still an active athlete, his net worth continues to grow.
Johan Santana Net Worth $65 Million
Johan’s career started in 1994 when he was discovered by Andres Reiner, a scout working for the Houston Astros. Therefore, Santana started attending Houston’s academy in Valencia, and after six weeks of training, he was told he was going to pitch. Interestingly, Johan didn’t like it at first and wanted to leave, but at the instigation of Reiner, he decided to stay. This is how Santana, originally a center fielder, was turned into a pitcher, thanks to his arm speed. Five years later, he was named the Tovar Merida Athlete of the Year. In 1999, Santana started playing for Minnesota Twins team, with whom he made his Major League debut in April 2000 at Kansas City. His net worth was beginning to grow.
In 2004, Johan experienced one of the best second halves of modern times, as he became the first pitcher to give up four or less hits in 10 straight starts, since 1961. He set the team’s season record with 265 strikeouts, surpassing the old record set by Bert Blyleven in 1973. This, among other achievements, brought him the Al Cy Young Award. Santana continued playing for the Twins for three more seasons, and during that time he won his second Al Cy Young Award in 2006, was nominated as a member of the 2007 All-Star Game, earned the AL Gold Glove Award and a Fielding Bible Award in November 2007.
In February 2008, Johan left the Twins for the New York Mets in a trade exchange for Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey, signing a six-year contract worth $137 million. In June the same year, Santana went 7.2 innings and earning himself his 100th career victory, over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Six seasons later, in November 2013, Santana became a free agent, and in March 2014 signed a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles and later, in 2015 with the Toronto Blue Jays. After minor injuries and health complications, Santana plans to resume his career in 2016.
When it comes to his personal life, Johan Santana has been married to Yasmile Garcia since 1998, whom he has known since childhood. The couple has three children and resides in Estero, Florida. Johan is also a great philanthropist and a humanitarian: in 2006 he founded the Johan Santana Foundation which provides assistance to hospitals. This foundation expanded its efforts in order to reach the Hispanic community of New York, and contribute to Tuesday’s Children organization.
