P2Daily: Termarr Johnson Showing Great Bat To Ball Skills, Exit Velocity

Since Termarr Johnson entered this past Tuesday’s game as a pinch-runner, he has seen the field in each game this week for the Bradenton Marauders, giving us our best look at the Pirates 2022 first round pick.

Let’s just say he’s having himself quite the week already.

Johnson has gone 7-for-11 this week, with four runs scored, three doubles, a stolen base, and has drawn as many walks as times he has struck out (three).

It’s been two plate appearances that have really stood out so far for me, one of which a double and the other a fly out to center field. Both have been featured on the Daily Video Rundown over the past two days.

Great overall at bat by Termarr here. Shows a great eye holding off on two low pitches. Tries to jump out in front of a fastball away that he misses on. Two pitches later takes similar pitch in nearly same spot the other way for a double #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/Hit1YXLCws

— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) August 31, 2022

This was the first of a three hit day for Johnson, showing some great patience in holding off on some really close breaking pitches. He swings and misses at a fastball away, but adjusts almost immediately as he got another one two pitches later that he goes the other way for a double.

Even getting out, a lot to like from this at bat from Termarr Johnson. Incredible ability to get bat on ball. Even squares up that curveball he fouls off on the check swing #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/7bV5ZgTRBt

— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) September 2, 2022

The second hit came in his first at-bat on Friday, working another full count, this time after falling behind 0-2. He takes some really enticing breaking balls, one close enough the pitcher tried to work it in his favor and started to walk off the field. Johnson was able to barrel up the payoff pitch, hitting it 105. 2 mph off the bat to center field for the second out of the inning.

Johnson has been hitting the ball well this week, so it should be no surprise that he has seven batted balls with an exit velocity of at least 100 mph. His batted balls have averaged 102.5 mph and a launch angle of 17.6°. No matter the sample size, that’s incredibly impressive for an 18-year-old.

Other Notes

— After a very rough start to the season, Domingo Gonzalez has been solid for the Grasshoppers the last two months. He has nine wins on the season after getting the decision on Friday against Winston-Salem. In July and August the 22-year-old Gonzalez struck out 35 batters in 38 1/3 innings while posting a 2.58 ERA and holding his opponents to a .200 average.

He picked things back up in his first outing of September, striking out five in four innings while allowing one run and three hits.

— Nick Gonzales continues to be one of the more confusing prospects in the system for the Pirates. He’s hit really well since returning from injury, but taking a look back at some of his games, the big hits are coming against the fastball. The struggles are still there with the breaking ball.

It feels like this topic comes up, but any time a top 10 pick hits well, it’s going to get noticed, especially if he was struggling previously. Gonzales has missed a lot of development time due to injuries, so it’s understandable if there are parts of his game that need fine-tuning.

Long-term I don’t think there will be an issue, he heads into the offseason with a clear goal in mind, and still looks like someone who can be at the very worst an ‘average’ hitting second baseman. He’s also played a lot better defensively than you might think someone with the ‘hit-first second baseman’ profile.