Jacob Johnson

Jacob Johnson made his debut in affiliate ball tonight, and he certainly didn’t disappoint. Johnson pitched 2 innings and allowed 2 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, and struck out 3. Johnson works with a 4 pitch mix, a fastball, sinker, slider, and a changeup. His fastball and sinker both sit mid-90s and he has the frame to even add a bit more velocity. I do like his four-seam shape from his arm slot, but the sinker is what the Rangers fell in love with. He does well to utilize the combination of his big extension and low release height that helps his sinker get tremendous depth and arm-side run up to 20 inches. His best secondary is by far his slider, but it’s really more of a sweeper with the movement profile it has. He sits about 83 on it, and averages around 16” of glove-side sweep. There was one he threw in the complex league this year that had 24” of sweep. He has a changeup that he lacks a consistent feel for at the moment, but now that he’s hit affiliate ball I’m looking forward to seeing his progression there. He’s shown good control with it, but it’s a shape I imagine will be worked on in the future. I’ve been interested in seeing more Jacob Johnson since he was drafted last year, and I’m excited to see him progress further now that he’s finally hit Hickory