Daniel Johnson (Sweden)

Daniel Johnson

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 180 lb.

• School Covenant College
• High School Eastwood Christian High School

• Born June 29, 1994 in Alingsas Sweden

Biographical Information

Daniel Johnson has played for the Swedish national team as have his brother Joel Johnson and Ben Johnson.

His father was an American missionary in Sweden who had played college baseball in the US and his mother was Swedish. He debuted in Sweden's top league, the Elitserien, in 2010, going 0 for 12 with two walks for Tranås. He played for Sweden in a 2010 qualifier for the European Junior Championship. He hit .200/.333/.400 for Sweden in the 2012 European Junior Championship Qualifier.

Johnson was 0 for 2 with a walk, steal and run for Covenant College in 2015. He started at short for Sweden in the 2015 B-Level European Championship. He hit hit .190/.320/.190 in the 5 round-robin games but scored 7 runs. In the finale, against Austria, he hit 5th and went 1 for 3 with two walks, two runs, a double and a RBI in a 8-5 win to give Sweden a spot in the 2016 European Championship.

Back at Covenant, he hit .267/.267/.333 in limited time in 2015-2016. He played regularly in the Elitserien that summer, hitting .282/.386/.341 for the Sölvesborg Firehawks. He fielded only .836 at short but stole 15 bases in 16 tries. He tied Johan Klarberg for 4th in the Elitserien in swipes but had the lowest fielding percentage of any shortstop with more than ten games played. In the 2016 Federations Cup, he hit .391/.444/.435 and fielded .885. He was 10th in the event in average, tied Tomáš Polanský for 3rd in runs (8), was 4th in hits (9), tied for 3rd in assists (14) and tied for 4th in errors (3). In the 2016 European Championship, he was 2 for 9 with a run as he backed up at third base. His hits were both as a pinch-hitter, the first off Boris Bokaj and the second off Pierrick Lemestre, both international veterans.

He was only 1 for 7 in 11 games for Covenant as a junior. In the 2017 Elitserien, he played a big role in the first title for Sölvesborg, producing at a .400/.508/.510 clip with 20 walks, 21 runs and 24 RBI. He tied Pär Axelsson for second in average, was 7th in slugging (between Nicklas Melin and Per Sjörs), was second in OBP (.008 behind Evan Opperman), was second in hits, tied for 3rd in triples (3), was third in RBI (3 behind Klarberg and Opperman) and tied Tommy Lindell for 5th in steals (15). His .888 fielding at short was actually 2nd-best among the five qualifiers, behind Joel Belk. He drove in a team-high 3 runs in their 8-4 clincher over the Rättvik Butchers in the finals.

Johnson saw regular action as a college senior, with a batting line of .208/.293/.248.