Jahdiel Santamaria

Jahdiel Elias Santamaria Rodriguez

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 170 lb.

• Born April 5, 1987 in Colón, Colón Panamá

BR register page

Biographical Information

Jahdiel Santamaria played six seasons in the minors and has been on the Panamanian national team.,

Santamaria signed with the New York Yankees at age 17. He debuted in 2005 with the DSL Yankees 2, hitting .277/.385/.337 and stealing 17 bases in 22 tries. In '06, he batted .306/.379/.394 for the DSL Yankees 1 and was 10-for-12 in steals. In 2007, he improved to .347/.435/.515 for the same club, with 47 runs in 57 games. In 196 AB, he struck out only 17 times while drawing 27 walks. He was second in the Dominican Summer League in average, .002 behind Ronald Bermudez and was also second in slugging, behind Luis Jimenez.

In 2008, Santamaria moved from the outfield to first base and hit .250/.314/.347 for the Staten Island Yankees. He was on Panama's preliminary roster for the 2009 World Baseball Classic but did not make the final cut. He was released by the Yankees, signed by the Atlanta Braves and was back in the outfield that summer with the Rome Braves, hitting .274/.320/.330 as a backup. He 3 for 30 with a walk and a homer for the 2010 Myrtle Beach Pelicans to end his minor league career.

The Colón native played in the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, going 0 for 1 with a run in three games. In the finale, with a spot in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, he pinch-ran for Carlos Ruiz in the 9th with a 1-0 deficit against Brazil and stole second but was stranded as the potential tying run. He helped Panama win a Silver Medal in the 2013 Central American Games. He was 1 for 5 with a RBI in the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games, backing up Concepcion Rodriguez in LF, Luis Castillo in CF, Javier Dominguez in RF and Manuel Rodriguez at DH.

He started in the 2017 Bolivarian Games and produced at a .286/.304/.412 clip with 3 doubles and 5 RBI in five games. Hitting cleanup in the Gold Medal game, he went 1 for 4 in a 6-4 loss to Colombia as they settled for Bronze. He tied Eduardo Thomas Jr. for 4th in the event in RBI and tied major leaguer Adrián Sánchez for the most doubles.

Sources

• 2008 Yankees Media Guide
• World Baseball Classic
• 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games site
• Colombian Baseball Federation