Micah Johnson

Rays Outright Micah Johnson

By Steve Adams | February 13, 2018 at 3:34pm CDT

Micah Johnson’s offseason odyssey has come to an end. The Rays announced today that the infielder has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Durham as a means of clearing a 40-man roster spot for the newly re-signed Sergio Romo.

Once considered the second baseman of the future for the White Sox, Johnson initially went from the ChiSox to the Dodgers by way of the three-team Todd Frazier trade with the Reds. Johnson spent the 2016 season in the Dodgers’ organization but was flipped to Atlanta last January. He enjoyed a solid run with Atlanta’s Triple-A affiliate, hitting .289/.377/.400 in a small sample of 155 plate appearances but also missed a significant portion of the year due to a fractured left wrist.

Johnson, 27, finished out the season in the Braves organization but has since been placed on waivers and claimed by three different clubs. Johnson went from the Braves to the Reds, to the Giants and to the Rays before finally clearing waivers and remaining with his current organization. A career .224/.291/.259 hitter in 131 MLB plate appearances and .281/.341/.393 hitter in 1323 Triple-A PAs, Johnson will be in Major League camp as a non-roster invitee with the Rays this spring.

Rays Claim Micah Johnson From Giants

By Steve Adams | November 27, 2017 at 2:43pm CDT

The Rays announced on Monday that they’ve claimed infielder Micah Johnson off outright waivers from the Giants. San Francisco had designated Johnson for assignment last week prior to setting the 40-man roster in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.

Once considered the second baseman of the future for the White Sox, Johnson went from Chicago to the Dodgers by way of the three-team trade that sent Todd Frazier to the Reds to the ChiSox. Johnson spent the 2016 season in the Dodgers’ organization but was flipped to Atlanta last January. He enjoyed a solid run with Atlanta’s Triple-A affiliate, hitting .289/.377/.400 in a small sample of 155 plate appearances but also missed a significant portion of the year due to a fractured left wrist.

Thus far in the offseason alone, Johnson has gone from the Braves, to the Reds, to the Giants, to the Rays — all via claims off of outright waivers.

Giants Designate Micah Johnson, Orlando Calixte

By Jeff Todd | November 20, 2017 at 7:27pm CDT

The Giants have designated infielder Micah Johnson and utilityman Orlando Calixte for assignment, as Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle was among those to report on Twitter.

San Francisco also removed righty Dan Slania from the 40-man via outright assignment. He cleared waivers. Another 40-man casualty, infielder Engelb Vielma, did not. Joining the Giants’ MLB roster are catcher Aramis Garcia and a trio of pitchers: righties Tyler Herb and Tyler Beede along with lefty D.J. Snelten.

Johnson has already bounced around between a few organizations this winter, moving from Atlanta to Cincinnati and then out west. The Giants will gladly stash him in Triple-A if he ultimately clears waivers.

As for Calixte, the 25-year-old has touched the majors briefly but hasn’t hit much at all in limited opportunities. At Triple-A in 2017, he posted a .243/.283/.421 slash over 401 plate appearances.

Giants Claim Micah Johnson, Designate Tim Federowicz

By Jeff Todd | October 30, 2017 at 3:45pm CDT

4:18pm: San Francisco has designated catcher Tim Federowicz to open a 40-man spot, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets.

Federowicz, 30, was projected to command $1.3MM as a 3+ service-class player in arbitration. In theory, he could have been retained to serve as Buster Posey’s backup, with Nick Hundley qualifying for free agency, but clearly the Giants have other plans.

Though he has seen time in six MLB seasons, Federowicz has only once taken more than a hundred plate appearances in a single campaign — his 2013 effort with the Dodgers. All told, he owns a .196/.245/.313 slash through 318 trips to the plate at the game’s highest level.

At Triple-A last year, he hit a sturdy .300/.366/.463. Indeed, Federowicz owns a career .877 OPS through parts of seven seasons at the highest level of the minors. Still, he has yet to receive an extended look in the bigs.

3:45pm: The Giants have claimed utilityman Micah Johnson off waivers from the Reds, as Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets. He had only recently landed in Cincinnati in a waiver claim from the Braves.

Johnson, 26, has bounced around a fair bit in recent years, moving from the White Sox to the Dodgers and then on to Atlanta before starting the present offseason with a flurry. Along the way, his prospect star has generally waned, though perhaps it’s too soon to give up on a player that comes with some pedigree as a well-regarded prospect.

Last year, Johnson did manage to produce a useful .289/.377/.400 batting line over 155 plate appearances at Triple-A. That represented an improvement on his ugly output at the highest level of the minors in the prior campaign. Johnson earned a brief stop in the majors for the third-straight season, but still has fairly minimal time there.

Clearly, the speedy Indiana University product is still seen by teams as worthy of some ongoing opportunity. The Reds evidently hoped to slip him through waivers, only to see another team with a high-priority spot on the NL waiver wire grab him instead. It wouldn’t be all that surprising to see Johnson bounce around a few more times this winter as teams jockey for position with 40-man roster spots.

Reds Claim Micah Johnson Off Waivers

By Steve Adams | October 26, 2017 at 2:01pm CDT

The Braves announced Thursday that infielder/outfielder Micah Johnson has been claimed off waivers by the Reds. Cincinnati has plenty of open space on its 40-man roster, so a corresponding move isn’t needed to accommodate his addition.

Braves Select Contract Of Tony Sanchez, Retract Announcement Of Micah Johnson DFA

By Steve Adams | September 1, 2017 at 12:20pm CDT

12:20pm: Although the Braves announced in a morning press release that Johnson had been designated for assignment, the team now tells reporters that Johnson has not been designated and that there was some internal miscommunication (Twitter link via David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Atlanta considered designating Johnson but ultimately elected to keep him on the roster due to the fact that they already had an open 40-man spot for Sanchez.

10:11am: The Braves announced that they have designated infielder Micah Johnson for assignment as part of a series of roster moves. Johnson’s 40-man roster spot will go to catcher Tony Sanchez, who was acquired yesterday in the trade that sent Brandon Phillips to the Angels.

The Braves have also activated lefty Ian Krol and righty Luke Jackson from the 10-day DL, while recalling left-handers Max Fried and Rex Brothers and third baseman Rio Ruiz from Triple-A Gwinnett.

Johnson, 26, was once one of the White Sox’ best-regarded prospects, but his stock has fallen in recent years. He was shipped from Chicago to Los Angeles as part of the three-time Todd Frazier trade in the 2015-16 offseason, and the Dodgers flipped him to the Braves for cash this past winter. Injuries limited his playing time this season, but Johnson batted .301/.391/.390 across three levels (mostly Triple-A — 36 games) in a total of 157 plate appearances. He’s a career .282/.341/.392 hitter in Triple-A bu has struggled in his brief exposure to the Majors.

Sanchez, meanwhile, is a known name due to his status as the former No. 4 overall pick in the draft (Pirates, 2009). He hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2015, though, and has never enjoyed much success at the game’s top level. In parts of three seasons, the now-29-year-old Sanchez has totaled 155 plate appearances and batted .259/.303/.378. He’s hit for a respectable .272 average and gotten on base at a solid .355 clip through 70 Triple-A contests this season, though he’s scarcely hit for power (.374 slugging, .102 ISO, four homers in 284 PAs).

Micah Johnson Diagnosed With Fractured Left Wrist

By Jeff Todd | March 16, 2017 at 1:58pm CDT

Braves infielder/outfielder Micah Johnson has been diagnosed with a left wrist fracture, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on Twitter. He will require surgery for the injury; his timeline to return is not known at this time.

Johnson, 26, hurt his wrist in an attempt at a catch recently. Though it was initially believed that he had escaped significant injury, ensuing tests identified the fracture.

Though Johnson has spent most of his professional time at second base, he has increasingly been looked upon as an outfielder. Atlanta acquired him from the Dodgers in mid-January in exchange for cash or a player to be named later.

A left-handed hitter, Johnson had seemed unlikely to crack the MLB roster to open the season. Jace Peterson remains ahead of him on the depth chart in the infield, and the club is said to be interested in using its last open bench spot on a right-handed-hitting, center-field-capable player.

Still, Johnson figures to be one of the Braves’ top depth options, so long as he can return to health. Once seen as a potential future regular with the White Sox, the speedy Johnson struggled in his MLB debut in 2015 and hit just .261/.321/.356 with 26 steals at Triple-A last year. But he did produce a strong .315/.375/.466 batting line with 28 swipes over 351 plate appearances at the highest level of the minors in 2015.

Braves Acquire Micah Johnson From Dodgers

By Steve Adams | January 13, 2017 at 2:03pm CDT

The Braves announced that they’ve acquired second baseman Micah Johnson from the Dodgers in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. Johnson was designated for assignment earlier this week to clear a spot on the roster for Kenley Jansen when his deal was formally announced.

In Johnson, the Braves are adding a left-handed-hitting utility option with plenty of control and perhaps some upside, too. He has been on the prospect radar for some time, though he hasn’t performed well in limited major league action.

The Dodgers acquired Johnson as part of the three-team Todd Frazier deal. At the time, he was coming off of a year in which he started out as Chicago’s second baseman, and put up excellent numbers at the Triple-A level following a demotion. But Johnson struggled at the highest level of the minors in 2016, slashing just .261/.321/.356, and saw only scant action with Los Angeles.

Speed and plate discipline have long been Johnson’s calling cards, but there are some worrying developments in both regards of late. He no longer tries to steal quite as much as he did in his breakout 2013 season, and was cut down on 11 of 37 attempts last year. Also, he surged to a 20.4% strikeout rate at Triple-A in 2016, far more than had been his custom.

[RELATED: Updated Braves Depth Chart]

It doesn’t help that Johnson isn’t regarded as a top-quality fielder and doesn’t have much pop. Still, it’s easy to see why the Braves were willing to take a shot on his talent. That’s not to say that Johnson is likely to make a serious challenge for MLB time right off the bat, as Atlanta already employs a similarly functioning player in Jace Peterson — another 26-year-old, left-handed hitter who spends most of his time at second base.

Dodgers Designate Micah Johnson For Assignment

By Steve Adams | January 10, 2017 at 3:55pm CDT

The Dodgers announced on Tuesday that they’ve designated infielder Micah Johnson for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Kenley Jansen, whose five-year deal is now official.

Johnson, 26, is one three prospects that the Dodgers acquired in last winter’s three-team trade that sent Todd Frazier from the Reds to the White Sox. Long rated as one of the best prospects in the White Sox organization, Johnson struggled at the Triple-A level in his lone year with the Dodgers. In 516 plate appearances, he logged a pedestrian .261/.321/.356 batting line despite playing in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He did manage to swipe 26 bags, but he was also thrown out on another 11 attempts.

Johnson has seen a bit of time in the Majors, mostly with the 2015 White Sox (plus another six plate appearances in L.A. this past season). In 120 career plate appearances at the big league level, Johnson has a .226/.296/.264 batting line. However, he’s a career .281/.336/.392 hitter in parts of three Triple-A campaigns even in spite of his poor work at that level in 2016. And, he’s just a couple of years removed from ranking as Chicago’s No. 4 prospect in the eyes of both Baseball America and MLB.com. (He also ranked second on MLB.com’s list of the game’s best second base prospects that year.) Johnson has received 80-grades (on the 20-80 scale) for his speed and drawn positive reviews for his bat-to-ball skills. He’s never been said to have much power in his bat, though, and he’s also been plagued by elbow, hamstring and knee injuries dating back to his college days.

The Dodgers, though, have been connected to second-base upgrades all offseason, seemingly indicating that they didn’t believe Johnson to be a capable heir to that position in the long haul. Johnson does have a minor league option remaining, so he could be claimed or traded to a team that wants to take a flier on his once-tantalizing upside and stash him in Triple-A to open the year.

NL West Notes: Rockies, Cueto, Dodgers

By charliewilmoth | December 19, 2015 at 3:24pm CDT

The Rockies have made a few small moves this offseason, but they haven’t yet addressed their rotation, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post writes. It’s unclear where the Rockies will go from here, Saunders writes — a deal with the Indians might have made at least a bit of sense, although, via ESPN’s Buster Olney (Insider-only), the Indians don’t appear to see any urgent need to deal Carlos Carrasco or Danny Salazar. A trade with the Rays might be a possibility, but the Rays have already been connected to a number of other teams (including, today, the Cardinals). And as was reported yesterday, the Rockies weren’t able to get Kevin Gausman from the Orioles in return for Carlos Gonzalez. Here’s more from the NL West.

Giants GM Bobby Evans says his team’s MRI of Johnny Cueto’s elbow “looked great,” Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area tweets. Cueto had a flexor strain last season, but it appears to be healed. It sounds, then, like the Cueto’s physical exam reassured the Giants that their $130MM commitment to him was the right move.
The Dodgers’ end of the three-way Todd Frazier trade (in which they received youngsters Frankie Montas, Micah Johnson and Trayce Thompson) added talent to the organization, but their return also initially appeared a bit puzzling given that they presumably plan to compete in 2016. The deal might, however, be part of a broader plan to add talent that they can use to acquire veterans, Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles writes. That could mean they trade for a young starter like Jose Fernandez or Sonny Gray. As Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times recently tweeted, top Dodgers exec Andrew Friedman answered affirmatively when asked if the Frazier deal made him feel better about dealing prospects. “Obviously, we’re having a lot of conversations that involve us potentially trading some prospects in different-type scenarios,” says Friedman. “This wasn’t necessarily directed at that, but it’s connected in the same way every move we make has some connection. Expanding our talent base is helpful on multiple fronts.”
Dave Cameron of Fangraphs , meanwhile, suggests a package that the Dodgers could use to land Chris Archer of the Rays. Such a deal could conceivably be based around young Dodgers infielder Corey Seager, with the deal also potentially including someone like Rays reliever Jake McGee. Cameron notes that the Dodgers would be reluctant to part with Seager, but, of course, the Rays would be reluctant to part with Archer as well, and the two teams have plenty to offer one another.

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