June 5th, 2019. That was the day that the Cincinnati Reds selected Alex Johnson in the 36th round of the Major League Baseball draft. At the time he was a 6′ 6″ and 220 lb high school senior from McKinley High School in Buffalo, New York.
Alex Johnson was the first Buffalo Public Schools player to be taken in the draft since 1972. That player, Doug Zavodny, doesn’t appear to have signed as he never played in a minor league game. Fun fact, though – Zavodny still lives in the area and is an umpire, and has worked behind the plate for Johnson according to The Buffalo News. The Reds and Johnson would come to an agreement on contract terms a few weeks later and he signed on June 27th. But the big right-hander didn’t pitch that season.
At the time he was selected the reports on Johnson were that he was throwing 88-90 MPH and would occasionally touch 91 or 92 MPH with his fastball. He would also throw a change up and a slider. The righty was considered raw as a pitcher. He was someone who didn’t have a ton of experience on the mound, but he was athletic, had a great frame, and his arm was fresh.
Unfortunately with how the world wound up in 2020, there was no season for Alex Johnson to participate in – giving him two professional years under his belt and zero innings thrown. He was invited to instructional league last fall out in Goodyear, where he did pitch in some games. At the time I was hearing that he showed up to Arizona in incredible shape. There was some inconsistency from game to game, but given all of the time off and the limited amount of pitching he had that was not unexpected at all.
On Thursday night, Alex Johnson finally made his professional debut in a game that is on the record. With the Arizona Complex League Reds holding a 9-5 lead he was called on to pitch the 9th inning in Goodyear against the Angels. The wait was worth it (though I’m sure everyone would have preferred his debut to have come much sooner than it did) as Johnson struck out all three batters he saw in the inning to seal the win for his team.
Oh yeah, he was also throwing 96-98 MPH.
Going from 88-90 to 96-98 MPH in two years is a heck of a jump in velocity. And at least in game number one of the season, and game number one of his career, that extra velocity came in handy.
Stevie Branche hits 99 MPH in Daytona
It seems that everyone throws eleventy-billion miles per hour these days. It’s not true, but it feels like it is. While velocity is ticking up across baseball every year, the average fastball velocity in MLB is 93.5 MPH this season, and for relievers it’s 93.8.
Stevie Branche has been racking up strikeouts by the dozen each week, or just about, this season for the Daytona Tortugas. Last night he just kept on going, striking out four of the five hitters he faced as he picked up the save in 1.1 innings against Lakeland. He did so while throwing 99 MPH to the final batter he faced – the hardest he’s thrown in his career.
Branche, an undrafted free agent out of the Rochester Institute of Technology, now has 53 strikeouts in 26.2 innings. He has had his fair share of walks, handing out 17 of them in his 12 appearances – posting a walk rate of 14.2% this year. That rate will need to come down as he continues to develop, but his 44.2% strikeout rate leaps off of the stats page, and he’s getting it done with real stuff, too.