What years did Benito Santiago play?

Benito Santiago played in Major League Baseball from 1986 to 2005.

Was Benito Santiago a pitcher?

No. Benito Santiago was a position player (Catcher).

How many home runs did Benito Santiago hit?

Benito Santiago hit 217 career home runs with 1830 hits.

Benito Santiago

Catcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1986-2005)

AVG .263

HR 217

RBI 920

H 1,830

OPS .722

PIV -3,613

Position: Catcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'1" / 180 lb
Born: 3/9/1965 in Ponce, P.R.
MLB Debut: 1986-09-14
Last Game: 2005-04-11
Awards: 5× All-Star · Rookie of the Year · NLCS MVP · 3× Gold Glove · 4× Silver Slugger

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Career Batting Statistics

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
1,978	6,951	755	1,830	323	41	217	920	91	430	1,270	.263	.307	.415	.722	-3,613

Career AVG .263 vs. league average .263 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career OBP .307 vs. league average .332 across their career seasons — 7.6% below league average.

Career SLG .415 vs. league average .411 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career OPS .722 vs. league average .743 across their career seasons — near league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1986	SDN	NL	17	62	10	18	2	0	3	6	0	2	12	.290	.257 (+13%)	.325 (-6%)	.395 (+18%)	.720 (+8%)	51.3
1987	SDN	NL	146	546	64	164	33	2	18	79	21	16	112	.300	.262 (+14%)	.331 (-2%)	.415 (+12%)	.746 (+6%)	489.7
1988	SDN	NL	139	492	49	122	22	2	10	46	15	24	82	.248	.254 (-2%)	.317 (-11%)	.377 (-4%)	.695 (-8%)	-679.7
1989	SDN	NL	129	462	50	109	16	3	16	62	11	26	89	.236	.254 (-7%)	.319 (-13%)	.375 (+3%)	.694 (-4%)	-424.3
1990	SDN	NL	100	344	42	93	8	5	11	53	5	27	55	.270	.257 (+5%)	.324 (-1%)	.385 (+9%)	.710 (+4%)	196.5
1991	SDN	NL	152	580	60	155	22	3	17	87	8	23	114	.267	.255 (+5%)	.323 (-8%)	.384 (+5%)	.708 (-1%)	-271.6
1992	SDN	NL	106	386	37	97	21	0	10	42	2	21	52	.251	.255 (-2%)	.322 (-11%)	.377 (+2%)	.699 (-4%)	-353.9
1993	FLO	NL	139	469	49	108	19	6	13	50	10	37	88	.230	.265 (-13%)	.332 (-12%)	.403 (-6%)	.735 (-9%)	-754.5
1994	FLO	NL	101	337	35	92	14	2	11	41	1	25	57	.273	.269 (+1%)	.338 (-5%)	.424 (avg)	.763 (-2%)	-175.5
1995	CIN	NL	81	266	40	76	20	0	11	44	2	24	48	.286	.266 (+7%)	.337 (+4%)	.417 (+16%)	.755 (+11%)	521.3
1996	PHI	NL	136	481	71	127	21	2	30	85	2	49	104	.264	.269 (-2%)	.340 (-2%)	.426 (+18%)	.767 (+9%)	809.4
1997	TOR	AL	97	341	31	83	10	0	13	42	1	17	80	.243	.266 (-9%)	.336 (-17%)	.419 (-8%)	.756 (-12%)	-751.8
1998	TOR	AL	15	29	3	9	5	0	0	4	0	1	6	.310	—	—	—	—	0.0
1999	CHN	NL	109	350	28	87	18	3	7	36	1	32	71	.249	.271 (-8%)	.344 (-9%)	.433 (-13%)	.778 (-11%)	-695.4
2000	CIN	NL	89	252	22	66	11	1	8	45	2	19	45	.262	.270 (-3%)	.344 (-10%)	.437 (-7%)	.782 (-8%)	-407.9
2001	SFN	NL	133	477	39	125	25	4	6	45	5	23	78	.262	.263 (-1%)	.332 (-11%)	.426 (-14%)	.758 (-12%)	-1079.7
2002	SFN	NL	126	478	56	133	24	5	16	74	4	27	73	.278	.261 (+6%)	.331 (-5%)	.416 (+8%)	.747 (+2%)	35.8
2003	SFN	NL	108	401	53	112	21	2	11	56	0	29	69	.279	.264 (+6%)	.332 (-1%)	.422 (avg)	.754 (avg)	-32.1
2004	KCA	AL	49	175	15	48	10	0	6	23	1	8	32	.274	.266 (+3%)	.335 (-7%)	.427 (+2%)	.762 (-2%)	-90.3
2005	PIT	NL	6	23	1	6	1	1	0	0	0	0	3	.261	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 20 seasons			1,978	6,951	755	1,830	323	41	217	920	91	430	1,270	.263	—	—	—	—	-3,613

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
28	100	7	25	2	0	3	19	12	21	.250

Playoff Batting by Year

Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
2003	NLDS1	SFN	4	11	0	2	0	0	0	1	2	.182
2002	NLCS	SFN	5	20	2	6	0	2	6	2	4	.300
2002	NLDS1	SFN	5	21	1	5	2	0	5	1	5	.238
2002	WS	SFN	7	26	2	6	0	0	5	3	4	.231
1995	NLCS	CIN	4	13	0	3	0	0	0	2	3	.231
1995	NLDS2	CIN	3	9	2	3	0	1	3	3	3	.333

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1978 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	1013	3486	378	929	98	467	.266
Away	965	3465	377	901	119	453	.260

Last 10 Games — Batting

Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO
2005-04-11	PIT	MIL	L	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
2005-04-09	PIT	SDP	L	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
2005-04-08	PIT	SDP	W	4	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
2005-04-07	PIT	SDP	L	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
2005-04-06	PIT	MIL	L	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
2005-04-04	PIT	MIL	L	4	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	1
2004-06-18	KCR	PHI	W	2	1	1	0	0	1	3	0	0
2004-06-16	KCR	ATL	W	4	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
2004-06-15	KCR	ATL	L	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
2004-06-13	KCR	NYN	L	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1B	25	14	139	8	1	11
C	1917	1796	10816	960	151	130
OF	2	0	0	0	0	0

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1986	SDN	C	17	15	80	7	5	2
1987	SDN	C	146	140	817	80	22	12
1988	SDN	C	136	128	725	75	12	11
1989	SDN	C	127	122	685	81	20	10
1990	SDN	C	98	89	538	51	12	6
1991	SDN	C	151	148	830	100	14	14
1991	SDN	OF	1	0	0	0	0	0
1992	SDN	C	103	98	584	53	12	6
1993	FLO	C	136	125	740	64	11	4
1993	FLO	OF	1	0	0	0	0	0
1994	FLO	C	97	88	511	66	5	6
1995	CIN	1B	8	1	19	2	0	2
1995	CIN	C	75	71	461	33	2	4
1996	PHI	1B	14	12	111	6	1	9
1996	PHI	C	114	112	723	61	10	5
1997	TOR	C	95	93	621	40	2	10
1998	TOR	C	15	6	45	2	0	0
1999	CHN	1B	1	0	2	0	0	0
1999	CHN	C	107	95	560	43	6	8
2000	CIN	C	84	66	428	36	3	4
2001	SFN	1B	2	1	7	0	0	0
2001	SFN	C	130	119	830	62	5	12
2002	SFN	C	125	122	738	54	4	10
2003	SFN	C	106	106	629	34	5	3
2004	KCA	C	49	48	228	18	1	3
2005	PIT	C	6	5	43	0	0	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Position	Games
Catcher	1917
First Base	25
Left Field	2
Designated Hitter	1

Awards & Honors

Year	Award	Notes
2002	NLCS MVP
1991	Silver Slugger	C
1991	TSN All-Star	C
1990	Gold Glove	C
1990	Silver Slugger	C
1989	Gold Glove	C
1989	TSN All-Star	C
1988	Gold Glove	C
1988	Silver Slugger	C
1987	Rookie of the Year
1987	Silver Slugger	C
1987	TSN All-Star	C
1987	TSN Rookie Player of the Year

Salary History

Year	Team	League	Salary
2005	PIT	NL	$2,150,000
2004	KCA	AL	$2,150,000
2003	SFN	NL	$1,775,000
2002	SFN	NL	$2,044,168
2001	SFN	NL	$500,000
2000	CIN	NL	$650,000
1999	CHN	NL	$1,700,000
1998	TOR	AL	$4,000,000
1997	TOR	AL	$2,500,000
1996	PHI	NL	$1,700,000
1995	CIN	NL	$650,000
1994	FLO	NL	$3,800,000
1993	FLO	NL	$3,400,000
1992	SDN	NL	$3,300,000
1991	SDN	NL	$1,650,000
1990	SDN	NL	$750,000
1989	SDN	NL	$345,000
1988	SDN	NL	$167,500
1987	SDN	NL	$63,500
Total Career Earnings			$33,295,168

Award Voting History

Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
2002	Most Valuable Player	NL	20th	2.0	448	0
1990	Most Valuable Player	NL	23th	3.0	336	0
1987	Rookie of the Year	NL	1st	120.0	120	24

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Benito Santiago (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Frequently Asked Questions about Benito Santiago

What years did Benito Santiago play?: Benito Santiago played in Major League Baseball from 1986 to 2005.
Was Benito Santiago a pitcher?: No. Benito Santiago was a position player (Catcher).
How many home runs did Benito Santiago hit?: Benito Santiago hit 217 career home runs with 1830 hits.