We are currently in the middle of Hispanic Heritage Month, and the Minnesota Twins have a great history when it comes to Latin-born players. We’ll look at several of them over the next few weeks, starting today with left-handed pitcher Johan Santana.
Santana was born on March 13, 1979 in Venezuela. He was signed by the Houston Astros as an amateur free agent in 1995, and after a few unspectacular seasons in the minor leagues, the Astros left him unprotected in the Rule 5 draft after the 1999 season. The Florida Marlins drafted him and immediately traded him to the Twins for Jared Camp.