3-13-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
It’s official. Termarr Johnson will NOT start the season with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Most reasonable fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates had no expectations that Johnson would not just make the 40-man roster but also leapfrog himself right onto the 26-man with zero at-bats above A+ ball. He’s very talented but there are still some things for him to work on in the lower levels and still other options the team wants to see already with the team.
But, Termarr definitely turned some heads this spring after going 7-for-19 with 2 home runs and a 1.166 OPS in his 14 games played. He also showed that there’s still things he needs to work on before he will be making his debut.
As the 4th overall pick in the 2022 draft, Termarr Johnson joined the Pirates organization with lofty expectations. With pre-draft comps to Wade Boggs and Vladimir Guerrero, the top rated tool was his ability to hit. He posted a .400/.558/.981 slash line in his senior year of high school.
Once he turned pro, he took a bit of a step back as he posted a .222/.366/.365 over his short stint post-draft with 82 plate appearances between the Florida Complex League and Bradenton. Still, he earned a Spring Training invite the following year but that, unfortunately, was cut short due to an early hamstring injury which would delay the start to his season.
Over his first two weeks, he had a 48.5% K rate while batting .154. He didn’t hit his first home run until May 18th but once he got rolling, he was REALLY going. In May, Johnson posted an OPS of .788. In June, he bumped it to .847 and in July it rose to 1.014 – prompting a promotion to A+ Greensboro to start August.
Over the final two months, he would slash .242/.427/.842 with nearly even walk/strikeout splits (22% for BB vs. 24.2% K rate) while playing against competition who were, on average, about 3 years older than Termarr.
The hit-for-contact tool has fallen off a bit but, in its place, Johnson has become a legit power bat considering his reported 5’8/175 lbs frame. He slugged 18 home runs over just 462 plate appearances last season, which was tied for 5th most among the Pirates minor leaguers. And this came in his first professional season, which was delayed by injury, and all while walking over 100 times – a feat accomplished by just 8 players in all of MiLB last season and Johnson had, by far, the fewest plate appearances of that group.
There are some concerns with his fielding, which was on display this spring as he made a few noticeable errors in the field at second base – a position he is still adjusting to after making the transition there from shortstop following the draft – but the talent is clear.
Maybe he won’t be the next Boggs of Guerrero, but his power potential and eye at the plate could get him a more modern comp. Perhaps, someone like Juan Soto? If he can cut back on his strikeouts and build up his batting average a few tickets, that is not out of the question. And I think you would take that type of production ten out of ten times.
Steel City Pirates 