Baseball Birthdays This Weekend

If your birthday is April 12th, you share it with Dennis Santana, the Dominican relief pitcher, who seems to be the latest Brian Cashman bullpen bargain.  The former Dodger, Brave and Met impressed during spring training, then took Jonathan Loaisiga's place in the Yankees 'pen when the veteran setup man went on the Injured List.  (And for trivia mavens, Santana is the 159th player to appear in games for both the Yankees and Mets.)

(Below:) Tomas Nido spent parts of seven seasons as the Mets backup catcher, including 2021, when I caught him in action against the Cardinals.  A career .213 hitter, he fell behind Omar Narvaez in the organization's depth chart and is spending his second straight season at AAA Syracuse.

Saturday the 13th's list begins with Hunter Pence.  The hard hitting outfielder came up with the Astros, then spent just over a year with the Phillies, before being traded to the Giants, where he was one of the big bats on their 2012 and 2014 World Championship clubs.  The lifteime .279 hitter smacked 244 homers before calling a career in 2020.  These days, he's building a second career in the media, having called games last season for Peacock and doing studio work with MLB Network.

(Below:) Steve Pearce was the textbook definition of a journeyman.  Mostly a righty platoon player or utilityman with the Pirates, Orioles, Astros and even a brief nine-game run with the Yankees (in 2012), he caught lightning in a bottle after joining the Red Sox midway through 2018 -- where he was named World Series MVP as Boston knocked off the Dodgers.
(Below:) Edward Cabrera looked good when I saw him pitch for the Marlins against the Yankees in early March.  But shoulder tightness later in spring training landed him on the IL; he's yet to appear in a regular season game, though Miami expects him back soon.  He's already made a couple of rehab starts at AAA Jacksonville.

Rounding out the weekend on Sunday the 14th:
  • Brad Ausmus, the longtime big league catcher and former Tigers and Angels manager currently serving as Aaron Boone's bench coach with the Yankees.
  • Kyle Farnsworth, who started 26 games in his first couple of seasons (1999-2000) with the Cubs, but worked exclusively for the bullpen over the next 14 years, including stints with both the Yankees and Mets.
  • David Justice and Greg Maddux, longtime Braves, teammates on Atlanta's 1995 World Champs -- and birthday twins, not only born April 14th, but in the same year, 1966.



 

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