Michael Johnson (minors14)

Michael William Johnson

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 1", Weight 185 lb.

• School Dartmouth College
• High School Brooks School

• Born January 3, 1991 in Winchester, MA USA

BR register page

Biographical Information

Michael Johnson has pitched as high as AAA and has been on the Italian national team.

Johnson played hockey, baseball and cross-country in high school. He was 1-1 with a 5.65 ERA as a college freshman in 2010. As a sophomore, he was 3-0 with a 4.39 ERA then 4-1, 4.37 as a junior. He was much better as a senior at 7-0, 1.82 with a WHIP under 1. He tied Joey Donino for the Ivy League lead in wins and was 3rd in ERA behind Mike Ford and Zach McCulley. He joined Ford and David Speer as the All-Ivy starting pitchers.

The Los Angeles Dodgers took him in the 14th round of the 2013 amateur draft. He split the summer of 2013 between the Ogden Raptors (2-2, 3.18 in 16 G) and AZL Dodgers (1-0, Sv, 4.50). The left-handed reliever was excellent for the '14 Great Lakes Loons (4-3, Sv, 1.83 ERA, 91 K in 64 IP, .198 opponent average). He was third in the Dodgers chain in games pitched, 50. Among full-time relievers in the Dodgers farm system, only Danny Coulombe had more Ks, by one. He tied Trevor Frank for 3rd in the Midwest League in pitching appearances and led full-time MWL relievers in whiffs. Among relievers in all of the affiliated minors, he was 5th in K/9 behind Sam Tuivailala, Akeel Morris, Chris Perry and Armando Rivero.

The Massachusetts native was 7-1 with a save and a 3.07 ERA for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in 2014, again striking out over a batter per inning. He tied Karch Kowalczyk for 6th in the Dodgers system with 46 games pitched and tied for 9th in wins. He tied Rob Rogers for 10th in the California League in appearances. He was with the Glendale Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League, going 3-0 despite a 9.00 ERA. He tied Ryan Butler and Austin Kubitza for 3rd in the AFL in wins.

In 2016, he was 2-2 with a 3.81 ERA in 46 games for the Tulsa Drillers. He tied Edward Paredes for 2nd in the Texas League in games pitched. He had a 0.52 ERA in winter ball for the Indios de Mayagüez. He tied Luis Atilano and Saul Rivera for 8th in the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League with 18 games pitched. Amazingly, he was not the most dominant reliever in the loop; J.C. Romero had a 0.00 ERA.

Back with Tulsa in 2017, Johnson was 7-1 with a save and a 2.79 ERA, continuing to fan over a batter per inning. His 40 games pitched tied Madison Younginer for 8th in the LA chain and he tied for 8th in wins. He tied Blake Perry for 9th in the TL in appearances. He again had a dominant winter - 2-1, 1.17, .78 WHIP for the Gigantes del Cibao. He tied Josh Judy for 8th in the Dominican League in games pitched (21).

Michael slipped in 2018 with Tulsa (1-2, 5.70 in 29 G) and the Oklahoma City Dodgers (0-1, 3.15 in 14 G), falling under a K per inning. He allowed 3 unearned runs in 4 2/3 innings for the Tigres del Licey that winter. His time in the Dodger chain ended with him having gone 24-12, 3.30 with 379 K in 346 1/3 IP. He spent the summer of 2019 with the independent New Britain Bees (1-2, Sv, 2.94).

His mother was Italian so he was able to play for Italy in the 2019 European Championship. He did a superb job for the Azzurri. In his debut, he got the win, relieving Alessandro Maestri in the bottom of the 5th after a rain delay, with a 4-2 lead over France. He struck out Gabriel Fromental-Houle, hit Daniel Patrice, whiffed Felix Brown and got Maxime Lefevre on a pop-up. After Italy added five insurance runs, he struck out Andy Paz, gave up a single to Frédéric Hanvi, struck out Jonathan DuForest and retired Jacques Boucheron. In the 7th, he gave up a Bastien Dagneau single and Fromental-Houle hit into a force. Alex Bassani relieved. His next game, he relieved Luis Lugo in the 7th with two out, one on and a 7-2 lead over Spain. He gave up a single to Engel Beltre and balked home Yancarlo Franco. Jhonny Bethencourt singled but Beltre was out trying to score. In the 8th, he went 1-2-3 against Oscar Angulo, Jesús Ustariz and Lesther Galván. Bassani again relieved him. Finally, he relieved Maestri with a 5-5 tie in the 7th against host Germany. He struck out the side - ex-big leaguer Donald Lutz, Max Boldt and Pascal Amon. In the 8th, he retired Eric Brenk, Marco Cardoso and Alex Schmidt in order. He made it 7 straight by retiring Kevin Kotowski to open the 9th but Philip Schulz singled. He recovered to whiff both Simon Gühring and Lutz. He got the win when Italy scored in the bottom of the 9th. He finished the event 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and 9 K in 6 2/3 IP as Italy won the Silver Medal. He tied Marek Minařík, Orlando Yntema and teammate Andrea Pizziconi for the tournament lead in wins.

Italy advanced to the 2019 Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifier. He made three appearances as Italy's bid fell short, tying Leslie Nacar, Garth Cahill and Kevin Kelly for the event lead in games pitched. He allowed one run in 3 2/3 IP but seven hits. In his first game, he relieved Maestri in the 4th with a 4-4 tie against South Africa. He struck out Benjamin Smith and both Anthony Phillips and Kyle Botha flew out. In the 5th, he allowed a Jonathan Phillips double and Rowan Ebersohn bunted him over but Johnson recovered to K Brett Willemburg and retired Brandon Bouillon. Pizziconi relieved. Versus Israel, he relieved switch-pitcher Pat Venditte with a 5-2 deficit in the 8th, two outs and the bases loaded. Ty Kelly singled to score one and Benjamin Wanger singled in two more before Johnson fanned Simon Rosenbaum. In the 9th, he struck out Zach Penprase but Mitch Glasser and Blake Gailen singled. He retired Danny Valencia and Nick Rickles to prevent further harm. His last game was versus the Netherlands. He relieved Bassani in the 9th, becoming the 7th Italian hurler, with a 5-3 lead, two on and two outs. He gave up a RBI double to Ademar Rifaela and 2-run single to Kalian Sams to give him five inherited runners allowed to score in two games before Sicnarf Loopstok grounded out.