Jonathan Johnston

Jonathan Johnston

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 185 lb.
• School United States Naval Academy
• High School The Peddie School

• Born February 13, 1984 in Trenton, NJ USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Jonathan Johnston served his country in the US Navy. He majored in ocean engineering at the United States Naval Academy, where he played baseball from 2003-2006, hitting .270 overall in 459 at-bats, with 2 HR and 57 RBI; most of his time was spent behind the plate as a catcher.

He earned several awards at the Academy; he was named to the 2006 Second-Team All-Patriot League, and was on the 2005 College Baseball Foundation National Honor Roll (March 2). He was also the 2005 Patriot League Player of the Week (March 1).

In high school, he was a three-year letter winner. He was the school's team captain and was named all-area, all-prep and all-state in 2001-02. He was also an American Legion All-Star in 2001-02. Jonathan earned three letters in football and was selected for the all-state second-team in 2000-01.

The Oakland Athletics took Johnston in the 42nd round of the 2007 amateur draft. He hit .228/.350/.289 for the 2008 Kane County Cougars, had 13 passed balls in 33 games and threw out 34% of attempted base-stealers. He then went into active military duty. He returned to minor league baseball in 2011 and played briefly with the Stockton Ports before retiring.

Johnston turned to coaching in the fall of 2011 as an assistant coach with Division II University of California, San Diego. He stayed with the Tritons through the 2014 season. Johnston took another assistant coach position with the University of North Carolina at Asheville where he coached from 2015-2018. He returned to San Diego for the 2019 season.

The Pittsburgh Pirates hired Johnston in 2020 for the dual role of West Virginia Black Bears manager and minor league hitting instructor before COVID-19 caused the cancellation of the minor league season. He managed the Bradenton Marauders in 2021-2023. In 2021, Johnston led the Marauders to the league championship and was named Low-A Southeast Manager-of-the-Year. Johnston received a promotion in 2024 and worked as the Pirates Hitting Development Coordinator.

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs
2021	Bradenton Marauders	Low-A Southeast	71-48	2nd	Pittsburgh Pirates	League Champs
2022	Bradenton Marauders	Florida State League	67-62	4th	Pittsburgh Pirates
2023	Bradenton Marauders	Florida State League	76-54	2nd	Pittsburgh Pirates

Further Reading

• Article about Johnson's naval service
• US Navy stats