Just a season ago, Kelly Johnson was living large in the desert. He left Bobby Cox’s outfield platoon in Atlanta and returned to the infield with a blast.
There were 26 blasts to be specific, a career-high home run total for the Texas native. He also hit for a respectable .284 average with 13 steals and a stellar 79 walks. The 29-year-old seemed to be in his prime and came across to fantasy managers as a legitimate alternative to Dan Uggla.
However, his 2011 season got off to a rough start. He hit just .180 in April with a Mark Reynolds-like 31 strikeouts compared to just eight walks.
The tough month was chalked up as a slow start. Johnson blasted seven home runs the following month with 17 RBIs and a .267 average. He also had eight steals through the first two months of the season, providing fantasy managers with a silver lining.
The prosperity did not last into June, as Johnson this time hit just .176 with three home runs. He did double his season output with 15 walks, but his .353 slugging percentage that month was hard to explain.
As if on an alternating pattern, Johnson bounced back the following month with four dingers and a .253 average, but by then the Diamondbacks had made up their minds. Johnson was far from dependable. He strikes out too much and while they thought they had a sleeper on their hands last season, this year he failed to meet expectations.
The Aaron Hill for Kelly Johnson swap was the classic new faces in new places routine that hopefully wakes up a dormant bat. The question now is whether we can really expect Johnson to offer the production he did a season ago?
Let’s focus on Johnson’s two greatest weaknesses this season:
1) He can’t hit southpaws:
As you can see Johnson looks like a player you would probably like to stick on the bench against southpaws. However, before we can make that conclusion let’s compare those figures to last year’s numbers.
Wow! It’s like night and day. Johnson dominated southpaws last season.
Perhaps it has something to do with his stance:
The video on the left (from 2011) shows Johnson with an open stance against a left-handed pitcher, while the clip on the right (from 2010) shows him in a closed stance. The point is that Johnson has proven capable of hitting left-handers, which means adjustments at the plate, such as his stance, may be the missing ingredient for success.
2) He can’t hit off-speed pitches:
The next issue for Johnson has been his inability to hit the soft stuff. This is usually the case for players straight out of the minor leagues where they are accustomed to nothing but heaters. Here’s a look at how Johnson has handled his share of sliders, curveballs, knuckleballs, and change-ups over the last two seasons.
Again, there is a big difference between the last two seasons. While his numbers weren’t great last season against off-speed pitches, it is still a problem that can be overcome. After all, a selective hitter can force pitchers to unfavourable counts where fastballs are the preferred pitch.
Johnson is in the midst of a miserable season, but there is good news for Blue Jays fans. It was just a season ago that he played at a high level, and with a few adjustments Johnson could return to a productive bat that also happens to man a middle-infield position.
And after going 3-for-4 with a triple and a walk on Monday night, maybe it’s a sign of things to come.