Omir Santos Named Topps All Star Rookie Catcher

An article by Hojo's Mojo    2 Comments

It looks like the Mets didn’t get completely shutout as far as awards go for the 2009 season.

After missing out on any off season hardware including any Gold Glove or Silver Slugger awards, the Mets manged to pull one out of the hat when catcher Omir Santos was named to the Topps All Star Rookie Team.

Omir Santos hit .260 in 96 games for the Mets last season with 7 homers and 40 RBIs, beating out the Orioles Matt Wieters who was the early season favorite for the Rookie of the Year award.

Omir provided Mets fans with one of the most memorable moments of the 2009 season when he stunned the Boston Red Sox with a game winning homerun off closer Jonathan Papelbon. With the Mets down to their last out, Santos jumped on the closers first pitch for a dramatic two-run homer that led the Mets to a 3-2 victory. 

Congratulations to Omir who will most assuredly return next season as the Mets backup catcher.

Here is the complete 2009 Topps All Star Rookie Team.

• 1B Travis Ishikawa, Giants
• 2B Chris Getz, White Sox
• 3B Gordon Beckham, White Sox
• SS Elvis Andrus, Rangers
• OF Chris Coghlan, Marlins
• OF Andrew McCutchen, Pirates
• OF Nolan Reimold, Orioles
• C Omir Santos, Mets
• RHP Tommy Hanson, Braves
• LHP J.A. Happ, Phillies

Each Rookie All-Star will get an nifty image of a trophy on their 2010 Topps baseball card similar to this one. I’m almost certain that the players themselves do not get an actual trophy, so I don’t know if this actually qualifies as post season hardware, but it’s still a pretty cool honor.

The Mets are still considering several options for their starting catcher vacancy, with Bengie Molina and Rod Barajas among the most talked about. Trade option also include the Pirates’ Ryan Doumit whom I feel would be the best fit for the Mets.