Sherman Johnson (Covington 2009-10) is a fascinating player. In four minor league seasons, he’s walked 299 times while striking out 342 times, which is a very strong ratio. He also has power; he has 87 doubles, 26 triples, and 31 home runs. He’s also stolen 69 bases. So he controls the strike zone, has a bit of power, and can run. Still, though, he doesn’t show up on most prospect lists. Fangraphs included him, though, in their Los Angeles Angels minor league evaluation, and John Sickels also named him an “other of note,” but without a writeup.
This is what Fangraphs wrote about Sherman, naming him “Cistulli’s Guy” (because Fangraphs writer Carson Cistulli gets to choose a favorite player):
Johnson received the distinction of Cistulli’s Guy as part of last year’s version of this same exercise, when human reggaeton horn Kiley McDaniel was authoring it. That version of Johnson merited attention most immediately for having produced nearly equivalent walk and strikeout rates (14.0% and 16.5%, respectively) at High-A Inland Empire while exhibiting a compelling power-speed combo package (17 homers, 26 stolen bases) and recording basically all his defensive starts at either second, third, and short.
By all those measures, Johnson’s 2015 campaign was almost identical to the year prior. He produced nearly equivalent walk and strikeout rates (15.1% and 17.3%, respectively) at Double-A Arkansas while exhibiting a reasonably compelling power-speed combo package (seven homers, 20 stolen bases) and recording absolutely all his defensive starts at either second, third, or short. The only difference appeared within his slash lines: .276/.382/.465 in the California League and .204/.325/.314 in the Texas League. The disparity between those lines, however, is almost entirely the product of BABIP, which was .314 in the former case and .240 in the latter — a disparity for which a combination of random variation and changes in run environment can wholly account.
In other words, the basic profile remains: Johnson controls the plate, runs well, and is likely to earn positive defensive numbers when (not if) he earns a chance in the majors. Below is footage of Johnson defending second base admirably.
“When (not if) he earns a chance in the majors.” Yeah! Sherman is back in Double-A Arkansas to start 2016, but perhaps his number will be called…..
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