Stephen Johnson, RHP. DOB: 2/21/1991. 6'4", 205 lbs. B-R, T-R.
Rookie AZL: 0-0, 4.50, 2 IP, 2 BB, 2 K's.
Short Season: 0-2, 4.66, 19.1 IP, 12 BB, 19 K's, 2 Saves.
Stephan Johnson is yet another hard throwing college reliever. He was rated by BA as the top ranked draft eligible player from a non-D1 college. Johnson's name hit the draft site radars around the midway point of the college season when reports started surfacing of him regularly hitting triple digits on the radar guns. Scouts started making pilgrimages out to his games, but then word got out there was nothing to see there, and the crickets started chirping again. I'm guessing it was some Giants scout that put out the word about the loss of velocity just to throw the dogs off the scent, because guess who called his name in the 6'th round of the draft? Yup, he's ours now!
BA's pre-draft scouting report had him sitting at 94-96 mph in the summer of 2011 with the Santa Barbara Foresters, then 98-101 out of the bullpen in college. "The 6'4", 205-pounder pitches mostly off his fastball, which features some run and sink, and his hard slurve parks at 81-85 mph when it's on. Johnson has a funky arm action with a stab in the back, resulting in just decent command. and perhaps limiting his realistic ceiling to set-up man rather than closer."
A word of caution: He was diagnosed with a partial elbow tear as a HS senior, but chose rehab over surgery and has had no reported problems since.
If you are looking for a small something to help you believe in this guy, he did not allow a run in his last 4 appearances with S-K over 5.1 IP with 3 BB, and 8 K's.
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Safe to say he be in low A to start next season.
ReplyDeleteJohnson compares pretty well with another fireballer who got snagged in the 5th by the Brewers (who might have been smarting from us drafting Okert in the 4th, they'd drafted him twice already) - Damien Magnifico. All fastball, all the time. 100 MPH arms are pretty rare. I love the flyer the Giants took here. One trend I saw in the draft is they grabbed guys who were hyped for a bit and then fell back into the pack - Agosta and Johnson both fit that profile well.
ReplyDeletePence and Mijares get their moneys to avoid arb. 13.8MM and 1.8MM. Arias, Blanco, Romo and the Kid to go... Pence had a rough couple months, I think a lot had to do with contact issues outside his normal range. He has roughly a career 80% contact rate, it dipped to 72% this summer in the French Vanilla. His 2nd half babip dipped to .259 as well, his career level is .321.
His mechanics are... unique. He might have been trying too hard, or just got out of wack. He's an interesting player, on a short term 14MM ain't no thang, but it's going to be an interesting question for a longer term contract.
Isn't that really the pattern in the Barr era? Every draft, at least in the early rounds, have been filled with guys who fell from First Round discussions, Crawford, Susac, Oropesa, Osich, Parker, Stoffel, Gillaspie, Kieschnick, and I assume I've missed others.
DeleteI think that his poor hitting with the Giants was an oddity, fluke. He hit similar to his career numbers (I think even better) when RISP for the Giants. Where he hit really poorly was with the bases empty and runner on first. If anything, one would think the opposite if he was trying too hard. Perhaps he was not hopped up enough with low probability of driving in a run? I think he should be fine in 2013, and hopefully the Giants can sign him to a long term deal, 3-4 years.
Pence not hopped up enough? Now THAT is truly a novel concept! LOL!
DeleteLast year about this time, we were looking forward to a group of 4 o 5 guys who we had who could go 95 (or about) and higher. I think they included Bandilla, Crick, Hall and Marlowe. I don't remember the rest of them. Who do we add to that list from the draft/Latin Am signings of 2012? Johnson, Gardeck and Okert?
ReplyDeleteI think that's about right. Fred Stanley said he could think of at least 8 guys coming up from the lower minors who could hit at least 95.
DeleteSystem wide? I've got Hembree, Osich, Concepcion, Crick, Bandilla, Hall, Marlowe, Gardeck and Johnson, Okert. That's 10.
The last of the 5 from the 2011 draft is Ray Black, whereabouts unknown at this time.
Delete10 guys in the comfortable mid 90s is nice. We also rule 5'd that project from the Rays in the milb portion.
8MM for Posey. Sounds about right. Blanco done and I'm sure Arias will be wrapped in hours as well. Mr. Romo?
ReplyDelete