Emphatic late statement
Johnson cements new job
TAMPA — If the Yankees are the restored Evil Empire, then yesterday was their unveiling of a brandnew Death Star.
“Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station!”
RED SOX BEAT Chad Jennings
While the Red Sox rolled into George M. Steinbrenner Field with their No. 5 starter and a lineup of backups and minor leaguers, the Yankees sent Masahiro Tanaka to the mound and put Aaron Judge in the leadoff spot.
This was the much-hyped Yankees lineup on full display, with the reigning Rookie of the Year serving as an opening salvo, Giancarlo Stanton hitting second, and Gary Sanchez stashed in the cleanup spot. Every lineup regular was in the order.
If the Yankees were trying to make a statement of intimidation, this was certainly one way to do it.
But they were shut out through nine innings.
The unlikely hero of such a spring training blockbuster was swashbuckling Brian Johnson, whose tremendous spring training reached a triumphant crescendo that secured his Opening Day roster spot in frozen carbonite.
Johnson is going to make the team. Just in case his 2.45 ERA and 0.91 WHIP leading into the game weren’t enough, he removed all doubt by going 42⁄3 scoreless innings against the Yankees regulars. He struck out five, walked one and allowed just two hits, one of them an infield single.
“In the beginning of spring, I thought I was going to be in the bullpen,” Johnson said.
And now?
“He’s one of our best five options to start games right now, so he’ll do that,” manager Alex Cora said.
The Yankees — as you might have heard — were one win away from the World Series last season, and they responded by trading for Stanton, acquiring Brandon Drury and signing Neil Walker. All three additions were in the lineup yesterday, giving the Yankees enough right-handed thump to worry any left-handed starting pitcher.
Their new manager, Aaron Boone, is toying with the idea of Judge in the leadoff spot for maximum impact against lefties, and he tested that theory against the Red Sox, who could have as many as four left-handed starters this season.
“You look at the track record, our lefties’ track record,” Cora said. “And they’re pretty good, too.”
That’s a fair point for Chris Sale and David Price. Even Drew Pomeranz and Eduardo Rodriguez have been successful. Johnson, though, is 27 years old with six career starts in the big leagues and a 90-mph fastball on a good day.
He handled that Yankees lineup as well as anyone could.
“He understands who he is,” Cora said. “He doesn’t want to be Chris Sale or David Price or Drew Pomeranz. He’s just B.J., and he’s going to change speeds. He understands, for him to be successful, he needs to pitch.”
Johnson said he didn’t know the Yankees had all of their regulars in the lineup until he heard the public address announcer reading the batting order during pregame stretch. He didn’t realize Judge was the leadoff hitter until Judge physically stepped into the box.
Johnson faced Judge twice: a five-pitch strikeout and an inning-ending double play.
It’s always risky to make too much of a few spring training at-bats, but this late in the spring, against a lineup this stacked with big league bats, the results start to mean something. And Johnson is all about the results.
“Especially in the lower levels, you want to throw harder because everyone else is throwing harder,” Johnson said. “You kind of get caught up in that to where it’s like, the first thing you’re doing after a game, whether it was good or bad, is (asking), ‘How hard was I throwing?’ … (Now) I worry about results, and I worry about reading the game, how I see people taking (pitches), and that’s all I really worry about. I know if I can use my eyes and kind of sense the situation, then I can kind of feel how I’m going to pitch to that and how that game is going to fold out.”
Out of options and pitching for the right to stay in the Red Sox organization, Johnson has accumulated the team’s second-most innings this spring, and he has their lowest ERA of anyone with more than one start. His WHIP is slightly better than Sale’s.
Johnson didn’t sneak into the rotation because of injuries and circumstance. He earned his way by locating fastballs, adding some deception to this delivery, and not worrying about much else.
“Everybody is big on analytics and spin rate,” he said. “I don’t (have) any idea what mine is. I just kind of go out there and whatever Sandy (Leon) puts down, if we agree on the same pitch, I just try to throw it as hard as I can at the glove.”
Keep hitting that glove, and he might see this Yankees lineup again when it really counts.