One of Baseball’s Most Overlooked Pitchers
So many great pitchers in 2009! Lincecum, Carpenter, Cain, Kershaw in the NL, and then you have pitchers like Beckett and Verlander in the AL. But what about Josh Johnson? With an ERA in the 2s and a consistently dominant season, Johnson gets little due for what he’s become.
Add Johnson’s stats to the fact that he had Tommy John surgery in late 2007, and everything becomes all the more impressive. How many pitchers can successfully recover from Tommy John surgery? Very few. And Johnson has bounced back, pitching the best baseball of his career ever since.
As he gets little media coverage and you rarely hear his name mentioned on ESPN, more active fans of baseball will be aware of his status; more casual fans may not know much about him though.
Having been drafted straight out of high school seven years ago, expectations were always high for Johnson, who spent three years in the Marlins’ farm system before finally being called up to the majors during the last month of the 2005 baseball season. Johnson got off to a nice start, with four respectable outings.
2006 was even better for Johnson, who finished the season with a 3.10 ERA and 12 wins. Johnson had started out the season as a reliever, but ended as a starter, and nearly finished with the league’s best ERA. He nearly won rookie of the year too.
Trouble struck in 2007. With a flaring elbow condition that seemed to worsen through the season, Johnson struggled throughout the year and eventually opted for surgery. Tommy John surgery. Usually a kiss of death, Johnson healed quickly and was back in action late last season.
This year, Johnson has simply been an ace. With a 12-2 record and a 2.85 ERA, very few pitchers are having better campaigns in baseball this season. The Marlins have a winning record for the first time in a few seasons, and can most definitely thank Johnson for a major part of their success.
Johnson has been the most valuable Marlins pitcher this season, and quite possibly the most valuable player – though with Hanley Ramirez on your team, it’s hard to definitively say that. Where he goes from here will be interesting, but with Johnson’s talent, he may very well get better.
