2009 FBS Breakout Player: Johan Santana

Laugh at it now and get it all out. How can I call Johan Santana a "breakout"? I will admit that his breakout status isn't that far from his expected projections, but we see him having a career year in 2009 and because of that we consider him a breakout. Let's start with his 2008 season. Despite have a great season, it wasn't his best, nor was he at his best. He had his highest WHIP in six years and only managed 16 wins. His strikeouts were way down at 206 and he walked 63 batters, the most in his career. So expecting better of him is possible and considering his final numbers of 2008 he is a clear breakout. At 29 he is at his pitching peak. Not only that, but the Mets have acquired a bullpen for him and consider this. If Santana had a reliable bullpen in 2008 he'd probably have 23 wins and the Cy Young. Because the Mets lacked a bullpen it forced Santana to pitch the most innings of his career in 2008 (late into game), and we expect his number of innings to go down in 2009 because of the newly installed bullpen. Finally, he now has a year under his belt in the National League and will fair much better the next time around against players he is now familiar with. Santana will have a career year and will win the National League Cy Young Award.

The True Guru Johan Santana Projections: 2.25 ERA, 22-5 rec, 1.08 WHIP, 238K

We feel he will achieve these projections through our formula based on our secret formula of 11 herbs and spices (its locked at Fort Knox). Of course we are assuming he stays relatively healthy for the entire season.
For the complete list of 2009 breakouts, please visit our breakouts page.