Yogi Berra famously said, “90 percent of baseball is half mental. The other half is physical.” While scouts strongly emphasize a player’s natural abilities, they often overlook their emotional states. From the time the Boston Red Sox took pitcher Brian Johnson in the first round of the 2012 MLB Draft, experts envisioned potential stardom. But recent trials and tribulations led to challenges with anxiety, which Johnson hopes to overcome and return to a big league mound.
A native of Cocoa Beach, Florida, Johnson was initially taken by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 27th round of the 2009 draft, but spurned their offer to attend the University of Florida. Johnson was a two-way player in the SEC, starring at both first base and on the mound. He earned the John Olerud Award for his performance on both sides of the diamond.
“In college, I was playing both positions, but when the Red Sox drafted me, they drafted me solely as a pitcher, so I focused on that,” Johnson said.
Following his junior season, Johnson moved to the mound exclusively for the Red Sox after becoming their first round selection in 2012, and though he dominated the New York-Penn League in four outings, he broke his jaw in the Futures at Fenway game when a line drive caught him in the face.
A slow recovery process ensued and when he reached Double-A with the Portland Sea Dogs of the Eastern League two years later, Johnson became the Minor League Pitcher of the Year, going 10-2 with a 1.75 ERA. His tenure with the Sea Dogs remains one of the biggest highlights of his career and a time he fondly remembers.
“Being on that team was something special and probably the most fun I ever had playing baseball in my life. Between the coaching staff and the team it was remarkable,” Johnson said.
Climbing the prospects rankings in Boston, Johnson pitched in the International League last season for the Pawtucket Red Sox and participated in its All-Star Game. On July 21, 2015, Johnson made his first appearance in the major leagues and faced the Houston Astros in his big league debut at Minute Maid Park.
He went 4.1 innings, allowing four hits and three walks in the outing. “The competition is better in the major leagues, but I went out and stuck to my strengths,” Johnson added. “They are in the big leagues for a reason.”
Although the future appeared limitless, reality set in unexpectedly for Johnson when he was the victim of a “GTA-style” carjacking in his native Florida at 2 AM on the morning of October 30, 2015. Unaware the man possessed a gun, Johnson initially walked up towards him before stepping away.
The fact that the incident occurred in his hometown affected Johnson deeply.
“It’s crazy. I was right in my hometown,” Johnson told NESN last January. “I’d never had one problem, never even got a detention in high school, never any of that stuff. Never had anything like that happen in my life. It was scary.”
Shut down for nearly two months after making his big league debut with an elbow irritation, Johnson returned to Pawtucket and for the first time in his career, felt intense struggles and his performance suffered, going 2-3 with a 4.64 ERA and a sharp decline in strikeout-to-walk ratio.
For Johnson, it became apparent that things were not clicking the way they once were and sought treatment for anxiety on May 23, 2016, spending six weeks out of action after being placed on the disabled list.
“Everybody fights their own demons. I was going through some personal things, but it gives you confidence knowing you had results in the past and can’t thank the Red Sox enough for how grateful they were through this process,” Johnson said.
On July 14, Johnson returned to the mound for the Lowell after two starts in the Gulf Coast League for his next phase of rehab. Facing the Brooklyn Cyclones at MCU Park, Johnson was dominant, striking out five in five innings of work and using his cut fastball and curveball to keep the Mets’ recent draft picks off balance, while displaying the flashes of brilliance that previously defined his minor league career.
“Going out there my plan was to mix in my cutter and slider and get more aggressive the second time through the order. It was also good to pitch under the lights,” Johnson states.
Listed as the fifth best prospect in the Red Sox minor league system according to MLB.com, Johnson features a cut fastball reaching the low-to-mid 90s, a slider, changeup, and a curveball with a sharp, downward plane. Using both sides of the plate, Johnson typically has excellent control and can suppress contact by pitching right-handed batters inside and use the curveball or cutter as an out pitch with two strikes.
Although he’s battled adversity and a rocky start to 2016, hope is not lost on Johnson. Evidenced by his recent start in Brooklyn, he remains the top left-handed starter in the Red Sox pipeline and is on the cusp of returning to the big leagues in the near future.