Orioles manager Dave Trembley isn?t one to hold a young player back.
By Trembley?s analysis, Jim Johnson isn?t a rookie ? he?s the Orioles? best option in the bullpen right now and Trembley is not afraid to go to the right-hander.
Case in point: During the Orioles recent homestand, Johnson faced Boston slugger Manny Ramirez and pounded two-seam fastballs under the future Hall of Famer?s hands before getting a run-saving double-play in a bases-loaded, none-out situation in the top of the seventh inning in last Tuesday?s 5-4 win.
“He came in to pound the strike zone. He wasn?t going to try to trick anybody. He was going to go right at him. It was a heck of an at-bat,” Trembley said. “He was going to keep pounding him.”
Not bad for a former starter.
Garrett Olson, who spent time at Double-A and Triple-A with Johnson, sees a completely new pitcher.
“He just has that bad boy attitude out there,” Olson said. “He?s attacking guys with strikes, completely confident with all of his pitches. He?s always had the stuff.”
Johnson made two appearances in Baltimore ? one game over two stints in each of the last two years. Before he was recalled April 11, Johnson was 0-1 with an 18.00 ERA in those Orioles appearances, raising concerns of whether the team?s 2005 minor league pitcher of the year would reach his potential.
Johnson said the biggest adjustment he?s made ? outside of moving from starter to reliever ? is the length of his stride on each pitch.
“It just helps me be a little more consistent in my release point. It helps establish a little more rhythm from the windup when I go to that,” Johnson said. “It?s actually a little longer stride. I?m one of the only guys that actually has to do that.”
At 6-foot-5, Johnson is taking advantage of his height in creating a menacing downhill plane, which can be tough on right-handers. Adding to that, Johnson?s former Double-A manager and current roving minor league catching instructor, Don Werner, said Johnson has improved his sinker and his curveball.
In 133 professional games, including two with the Orioles, Johnson made just 12 relief appearances entering this season.
“I can see him doing anything,” said Werner, who was in Baltimore as the acting bullpen coach for the recent homestand. “He?s just got the attitude where, ?I?m going to come in there and do the job, it doesn?t matter what the situation is.?”
Entering tonight?s series opener at the Yankees ? just a few hours east of his hometown of Binghamton, N.Y. ? Johnson is 0-1 with a save and a team-best 1.13 ERA in 24 innings, proving that he might have found a new home as the team?s power right-hander in the bullpen.
“Whichever way [Trembley] wants to throw me is fine,” Johnson said. “Whether it be in the fifth, sixth, eighth, it doesn?t matter. As long as we?re winning games and I?m able to contribute, I?ll be happy.”
