Seth Johnson is Healthy

[Jim'sKid26]

32 minutes ago, Frobby said:

He walked two batters in three innings at AA.  That’s got you worried?

His walk rates in 2021-22 were respectable (3.4/3.7).  I’m looking for something in that range this year.  

Small sample size. Fair criticism. I will keep my opinion to myself. Critique noted. Thank you.

[Just Regular]

He's a fun puzzle for how the Club will measure out his effort.    One of the early reports from Tampa camp is they are slow rolling Shane Baz to keep some in the tank for fall.

In 2021, TBR did throw Seth Johnson for 1580 pitches in 23 games, a bit under ~70 pitches/outing.     That's the high water mark of his baseball life coming up on age 25.5 next month.     Most of the data for Sigbot to request him in summer 2022 compiled then.

If he is Bowie's Opening Night starter April 5th, I'll guess 3 innings.     Reading is in to PG Stadium, and the Phillies have some hotshots too.

[Tony-OH]

I'll be honest, I'm very interested in seeing how Johnson is used this spring and this season. 

With current bullpen needs I can see the Orioles being tempted to convert him and take a look. He's not going to open the season with the Orioles, but I could see a path for him to pitch some innings out of the pen in the second half in Baltimore if he's converted to a reliever. 

[Brooks The Great]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

I'll be honest, I'm very interested in seeing how Johnson is used this spring and this season. 

With current bullpen needs I can see the Orioles being tempted to convert him and take a look. He's not going to open the season with the Orioles, but I could see a path for him to pitch some innings out of the pen in the second half in Baltimore if he's converted to a reliever. 

He could also start during his time in the minors, but get called up to the O's to pitch out of the pen in the second half. Not sure if that's what you meant by converting him to a reliever, but it would be a good way to leverage his skill set for this season while also keeping his innings down coming off of TJS.

Then he could be treated as a starter for next season (if he pitches well as a starter in the minors this season).

[Tony-OH]

4 minutes ago, Brooks The Great said:

He could also start during his time in the minors, but get called up to the O's to pitch out of the pen in the second half. Not sure if that's what you meant by converting him to a reliever, but it would be a good way to leverage his skill set for this season while also keeping his innings down coming off of TJS.

Then he could be treated as a starter for next season (if he pitches well as a starter in the minors this season).

He could, but I'm not a fan of that. I'd rather see him get used to pitching every 2 to 3 days or even back to back to learn that recovery skill.

[Brooks The Great]

18 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

He could, but I'm not a fan of that. I'd rather see him get used to pitching every 2 to 3 days or even back to back to learn that recovery skill.

I just don't think Elias will decide to convert him to a reliever to that degree if he's pitching decently as a starter. Nor should he. I think Elias and the organization need to see if Johnson can fulfill his upside projection as a rotation arm, and this season will be critical to evaluating that.

If Johnson has trouble consistently going deep into games or he gets hit much harder the second/third time though a lineup, that's a different story. But I think Johnson will get a couple months worth of starts in the minors to see whether that's the case.

[BohKnowsBmore]

Has the added benefit of being on the 40-man already, so nobody necessarily needs to be removed for him to come up as a reliever later in the season.