Just a week after High-A Greensboro’s final game of the season, Termarr Johnson once again finds himself at a baseball field.
The Atlanta native on Sunday took a call from East Cobb Baseball, a seven-field complex in the city’s suburbs, while a game was ongoing in the background. At just 19 years of age and having completed his first full professional season Sept. 10, few would blame Johnson if he wanted to take some brief time away from baseball to recuperate.
But as the No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 MLB draft is quick to point out, that’s not him.
“I like to play baseball every day of the week, man. This is my getaway. This is what I do. This is my life,” Johnson told the Post-Gazette. “I want to play baseball as long as they let me.”
Should Johnson, the Pirates’ No. 2 overall prospect per MLB Pipeline, continue to swing a bat that’s far better than most minor league second basemen, he just might get his wish. The Pirates nabbed Johnson as high as they did and signed him over slot value out of Benjamin Elijah Mays High School in part because of his hitting tools, ones that were at the forefront in the 2023 campaign.
In a season split between Low-A Bradenton and Greensboro, Johnson hit a combined 18 home runs in only 349 at-bats. He also walked an impressive 101 times but went down swinging or looking 120 times. In total, he slashed .244/.422/.438, good for an .860 OPS.
Johnson was quick to call this past season a great experience but recognizes he’s capable of much more.
“As far as my play goes, it was all right,” Johnson said. “But it’s definitely going to get way better. Ten times more a player than I was this year.”
As Johnson seeks to take his play to the next level, what he already has working for him is a keen eye at the plate. It allowed him to reach base at a prodigious clip, even when his batting average ebbed and flowed. Johnson credits his mindset when hitting — one that’s predicated on patience — to his family, who he says bestowed that virtue upon him.
It’d also be safe to say, though, that Johnson’s advanced approach isn’t limited to when he digs into the box.
“I never like to rush anything,” Johnson said. “I don’t like to rush at-bats. I don’t like to rush development. I don’t like to rush anything that gets me better every day.
“The pitcher has to come to me. I think that's where my patience comes from, and I’ve just got to continue to do that.”
Johnson understands that he can’t control how frequently a pitcher comes into the zone; in his mind, what he has greater authority over is how hard he hits a pitch that does come across the plate. Despite a 5-foot-8, 175-pound frame, Johnson has a propensity for barrelling into one, considering nearly 40% of his professional hits have gone for extra bases and roughly one of every five leaves the ballpark.
In a similar vein, Johnson isn’t terribly preoccupied with where he begins the 2024 season or how quickly he ascends the Pirates’ minor league system; a myriad factors are outside his control on that matter, as well.
Should Johnson begin the 2024 season with Double-A Altoona, though, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think he could jump up to Triple-A Indianapolis by the year’s end. It’s a long shot, but a sizable step forward in 2024 could even see Johnson get a late call-up at just 20 years of age.
But rather than speculate about his future, Johnson’s going to keep taking in some games in the Atlanta area, work out and keep his body in baseball shape for when he reports to Bradenton once the calendar turns over. He hopes to be a more consistent player in 2024, ranging from how he handles his pregame preparations to his running of the bases.
Should he improve in these areas, Johnson believes he’ll be positioning himself well for MLB success whenever he’s deemed ready by the Pirates to help out the big-league club.
“I want to be prepared for Pittsburgh next year, help those guys win,” Johnson said. “We need some winning baseball up there and I'm ready to do it.”
Starting Nine
Numbers through Sunday’s games
- Right-hander Jared Jones, the Pirates’ No. 3 prospect, has not allowed a run in each of his last two starts while striking out 12. Jones’ 93 strikeouts since being promoted to Indianapolis on June 20 lead all Triple-A pitchers.
- Second baseman Nick Gonzales is hitting .340 with four doubles, a triple, four home runs and five RBIs in his last 13 games for Indianapolis. On the season in Triple-A, the Pirates’ No. 6 prospect is slashing .272/.377/.481.
- Outfielder Matt Gorski is hitting .275 with four doubles, three home runs, six RBIs and an .893 OPS since being promoted from Double-A Altoona. The Pirates’ No. 22 prospect finished his Curve season with a .238 average and 17 home runs.
- Right-hander Kyle Nicolas has a .120 ERA with 24 strikeouts in his last 12 appearances that span 15 innings. The Pirates’ No. 26 prospect, who struggled initially as a starter in Triple-A, has found new life as a reliever.
- In his final eight games for Altoona, right-hander Sean Sullivan went 6-0 with a 2.82 ERA. He finished the season sixth in the Eastern League in ERA, ninth in innings pitched, ninth in batting average against and sixth in WHIP.
- Right-hander Bubba Chandler only ended up making one start for the Curve this season, but it was a memorable one. The Pirates’ No. 7 prospect went five scoreless, yielding just one hit while striking out eight. It was a nice way for Chandler, who began the year in Greensboro with ample struggles, to close out the campaign.
- Left-hander Anthony Solometo finished out his campaign in Altoona failing to recapture the success he had in Greensboro. In 12 starts for the Curve, Solometo went 2-4 with a 4.35 ERA, over two runs higher than the mark the Pirates’ No. 4 prospect posted for the Grasshoppers.
- Outfielder Jase Bowen struggled to hit for average during his brief stint in Altoona, but his combined 23 home runs and 95 RBIs for the Curve and Grasshoppers leads all Pirates minor-leaguers.
- Shortstop/third baseman Jack Brannigan finished out his season split between Bradenton and Greensboro with some impressive offensive numbers. The Pirates’ No. 23 prospect, Brannigan hit a combined .275 with 19 home runs, 14 doubles and three triples across the two levels.
Andrew Destin: adestin@post-gazette.com and Twitter @AndrewDestin1
First Published: September 19, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
