Rafael Santana

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Rafael Santana

|team=Chicago White Sox

|image=Rafael Santanawiki1983.jpg

|position=Shortstop

|birth_date={{Birth date and age|1958|1|31}}

|birth_place=La Romana, Dominican Republic

|bats=Right

|throws=Right

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=April 5

|debutyear=1983

|debutteam=St. Louis Cardinals

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=April 23

|finalyear=1990

|finalteam=Cleveland Indians

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Batting average

|stat1value=.246

|stat2label=Home runs

|stat2value=13

|stat3label=Runs batted in

|stat3value=156

|teams=

St. Louis Cardinals ({{mlby|1983}})
New York Mets ({{mlby|1984}}–{{mlby|1987}})
New York Yankees ({{mlby|1988}})
Cleveland Indians ({{mlby|1990}})

|highlights=

World Series champion ({{wsy|1986}})

}}

Rafael Francisco Santana de la Cruz (born January 31, 1958) is a Dominican former Major League Baseball shortstop who won a World Series ring with the 1986 New York Mets. He currently serves as the Dominican Republic scouting and player development supervisor for the Chicago White Sox.

St. Louis Cardinals

Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in {{Baseball year|1976}}, Santana spent several years in their farm system before being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals on February 16, {{Baseball year|1981}} for a player to be named later. The Cardinals sent pitcher George Frazier to the Yankees in June to complete the deal.

Santana made the Cardinals out of spring training in {{Baseball year|1983}}, making his major league debut on April 5 at third base in the season opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates.{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN198304050.shtml|title=Pittsburgh Pirates 7, St. Louis Cardinals 1|date=1983-04-05}} In 30 games, Santana had only three hits in fourteen at-bats for a .214 batting average to go along with two runs batted in.

New York Mets

Santana was released by the Cardinals on January 17, {{Baseball year|1984}}, and signed that same day with the New York Mets. During the 1984 season, he played 51 games for the Mets, hitting a career-best .271 with a home run and 12 RBIs as the primary back-up for starting shortstop Jose Oquendo.

Oquendo was traded with Mark J. Davis to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ángel Salazar and John Young during the offseason, making Santana the regular Mets shortstop for {{Baseball year|1985}}. He responded with a .257 batting average and a .965 fielding percentage for the squad that finished with 98 wins, and three games behind the Cards in the National League East.

During the {{Baseball year|1986}} regular season, he batted just .218 with a home run and 28 RBIs, however, batting eighth in the order, he also led the squad with twelve intentional walks (Mets pitchers batted only .123 for the season). Santana started all 13 games for the Mets during the {{wsy|1986}} post-season, and established an NLCS record for most putouts (13), assists (18) and chances accepted (31) by a shortstop in a six-game series against the Houston Astros.

After the {{Baseball year|1987}} campaign where he set career-highs in home runs (5) and RBIs (44) with the Mets, Santana was traded to the cross-town Yankees with Victor Garcia for Steve Frey, Phil Lombardi and Darren Reed. He hit .240 with four home runs and 38 RBIs for managers Billy Martin and Lou Piniella in {{Baseball year|1988}}. After missing the entire {{Baseball year|1989}} season with an elbow injury, Santana was released on November 7 of that year.

Cleveland Indians

In January 1990, Santana signed with the Cleveland Indians, where he played 7 games and was reunited with 1986 Mets teammates Keith Hernandez, Jesse Orosco, and Stan Jefferson. After being released on April 25 of that year, he retired from the big leagues at the age of 32.

Coaching career

After his playing career, Santana made a seamless foray into coaching. He started by managing Azucareros del Este of the Dominican Winter League from {{Baseball year|1992}} through {{Baseball year|1993}}. His first coaching job in the United States was also in 1992, with the Kansas City Royals' Florida State League affiliate, the Baseball City Royals (located in Davenport, Florida). He spent four seasons in the Royals' organization, also coaching with the Carolina League's Wilmington Blue Rocks, the Northwest League's Eugene Emeralds and the Midwest League's Springfield Sultans.

After this, Santana worked three seasons in the Boston Red Sox organization, overseeing the Red Sox Dominican program in {{Baseball year|1996}} and as a roving infield instructor and hitting coach with the Class A New York–Penn League Lowell Spinners in {{Baseball year|1997}} and {{Baseball year|1998}} before moving on to the White Sox. He spent four seasons as the ChiSox's minor league infield instructor before being promoted to the major league club in the same capacity while also serving as their first base coach for {{Baseball year|2003}} and {{Baseball year|2004}}.{{cite web|url=http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20021108&content_id=172962&vkey=pr_cws&fext=.jsp&c_id=cws|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225082526/http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20021108&content_id=172962&vkey=pr_cws&fext=.jsp&c_id=cws|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 25, 2012|title=Sox name third and first base coaches|accessdate=2002-11-20}} Santana returned to his previous position as roving infield instructor in {{Baseball year|2005}}. On January 1, {{Baseball year|2006}}, Rafael Santana was named manager of the Winston-Salem Warthogs, his first managerial job in the United States.{{cite web|url=http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3259455|title=Rafael Santana to make managerial debut with Warthogs|accessdate=2009-10-30|date=2006-01-16}} The following season, Santana took over the Birmingham Barons from Chris Cron. He currently serves as the Dominican Republic scouting and player development supervisor for the White Sox.

Personal life

He is a member of the Mets Alumni Association and along with past Mets players, still makes personal appearances on behalf of the team. On August 19, 2006, Santana attended a 20th Anniversary Reunion of the 1986 Mets World Series Championship Team at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York, which took place prior to that night's game between the Mets and the Colorado Rockies.{{cite web|url=http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060819&content_id=1618842&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym|title='86 Mets reunite at Shea|accessdate=2006-08-20|date=2006-08-19 |df=mdy-all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006140831/http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060819&content_id=1618842&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym |archive-date=October 6, 2008 |website=MLB.com |first=Marty |last=Noble}}

Santana and his wife, Gloria, live in Cape Coral, Florida, and have three children: Audry, Alexander, and Dhayan. Alexander is a third baseman who attended Mariner High School in the Cape{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2009/10/03/2009-10-03_watn.html|title=Shortstop Rafael Santana a quiet and pivotal piece of 1986 Mets|accessdate=2009-10-30 | location=New York | work=Daily News | first=Mitch | last=Abramson | date=October 3, 2009}} and was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2nd round of the 2011 MLB draft.