Mark Johnson (catcher)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For other persons named Mark Johnson, see Mark Johnson (disambiguation)..
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|---|---|
| St. Louis Cardinals — No. 53 | |
| Catcher | |
| Born: September 12, 1975 | |
| Bats: Left | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
| September 14, 1998 for the Chicago White Sox | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through 2007) |
|
| Batting Average | .217 |
| Home Runs | 16 |
| Runs Batted In | 81 |
| Teams | |
Mark Landon Johnson (born: September 12, 1975 in Wheat Ridge, Colorado) is a catcher in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. Standing at 6'0" and weighing 185 pounds, Johnson attended Warner Robins High School in Warner Robins, Georgia.
Batting left-handed but throwing right-handed, Johnson was drafted by the Chicago White Sox 26th overall in the 1994 draft. The first two seasons of his professional career were nothing near stellar-in 1994, he hit only .241 in 32 games, and in 1995, he hit .182 in 107 games.
1996 saw a slight improvement, at least while in Class-A ball. He hit .257 in 67 games there, but in Class-A advanced ball that year, he hit only .241.
Great at drawing walks, he walked 106 times but struck out only 85 times in 1997, but he still only hit .252. In 1998, he had a career year in the minors, batting .283 with 105 walks and only 72 strikeouts. That prompted his promotion, and on September 14, 1998 at the age of 22, he made his big league debut. He went 0-for-1 at the plate. The rest of his season was not impressive, either-overall, he collected only two hits in 23 at-bats, for a .087 batting average. He made the best out of his two hits, though-they were both triples. His first one came off Pedro Martínez on September 19, and his second came off Scott Service on September 25.
He spent his entire 1999 season with the White Sox, backing up Brook Fordyce. In 73 games that season, he hit .227 with four home runs and 16 RBI.
He hit .225 in 2000, this time as the White Sox main starting catcher. In 75 games, he hit three home runs with 23 RBI.
2001 was a career year for Johnson. Even though he spent 55 games in the minors, his Major League season would be the best of his career. He hit .249 with 10 sacrifice hits-good for fourth most in the league.
He hit only .209 in 2002, and that may have prompted his trade. On December 3, 2002, he was traded with Keith Foulke, Joe Valentine, and cash to the Oakland Athletics for Billy Koch and two players to be named later (who would end up being Neal Cotts and minor leaguer Daylon Holt).
He spent most of his season in the minors in 2003, hitting only .228. In the thirteen games that he played in the Majors, his batting average was.111.
After the 2003 season, he was granted free agency and signed by the Milwaukee Brewers. Like the season before, he spent most of his time in the minors that year, actually breaking the .250 mark and hitting .259. His time in the Majors was again unimpressive-in eleven at-bats, he collected only one hit, for a .097 batting average.
After 2004, he was granted free-agency but was resigned by the Brewers, who then traded him to the Chicago Cubs for Travis Ezi. He spent 2005 entirely in the minors, hitting .266 in 60 games. After the 2005 season, he was granted free agency and picked up by the Brewers again. He spent all of 2006 in the minors, hitting only .203 there.
One source describes him as this: "He has decent gap power, resulting in his share of doubles, as well as a good eye at the plate. Defensively, he calls a good game and gets the ball quickly down to second base."
Although he has never quite lived up to the "gap power", he has shown a fairly good eye at the plate, with 123 walks and 195 strikeouts so far in his career. His defense is also reliable-his career fielding percentage is .993.
That same source goes on to say this about him: "He has very little home-run power and is a fairly light hitter on the whole -- even worse against southpaws."
He has average just over two home runs a season in the Majors, and his statistics-.217 batting average with 16 home runs and 81 RBI so far in his career-are rather unsavory.
The teammate Johnson has spent the most professional seasons with is eight-he has spent that much time with Carlos Lee. Statistically, he compares most to Larry Cox.
He has worn multiple numbers so far in his career: 57 in 1998, 10 in 1999 and 2000, 8 in 2001, 2002 and 2004, and 7 in 2003.
At last check he lived in Warner Robins, Georgia.
In December 2007, he signed a minor league contract with the St Louis Cardinals and was invited to their 2008 spring training.
