DENVER -- Troy Johnston was fortunate and good during Monday night’s 9-7 victory over the Astros at Coors Field. He had a chalk-hugging bunt single and rabbit’s-foot bounce off the second-base bag for a double, then a home run that made him the first model to wear the Rockies’ purple faux fur celebration coat in the dugout.
But he recalled a difficult time when he was good enough to be the Marlins’ Minor League Player of the Year in 2023. Fortune, as in money, was non-existent. The $90,000 after-taxes bonus he received for being a Marlins 17th-round Draft choice from Gonzaga University in '19 had dwindled, as had his wages for playing and working three jobs every offseason.
“You’re swiping the credit card and I don’t know if it’s going to go through, right?” Johnston said, still in his jersey in a happy clubhouse. “That’s a real problem for a lot of Minor Leaguers.”
Johnston, 28, thought the solution was to retire from baseball in 2024.
“I was fully done with baseball,” he said. “I was done with the Marlins. I was done with everything. I thought professional baseball had chewed me up and spit me out. I was having success. I never got the call and I was as broke as I could be.
“I have my degree from Gonzaga in business administration with a concentration in supply-chain management. But I’m a good talker. I have a hookup when I am done with baseball to be a medical device sales rep or a tech sales rep."
Quint Studer owns the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Marlins Double-A affiliate). He also owns hospitals and wanted to hire Johnston. But Johnston recalls Studer saying, “When you’re actually serious, we’ll take you.”
Johnston’s wife, Haleigh, agreed with Studer. It helped that Toros del Este of the Dominican Winter League offered to pay Johnston.
Johnston debuted with the Marlins last season, hitting .277 in 44 late-season games. The Rockies claimed him off waivers on Nov. 5. He went from needing a late surge to make the Opening Day roster to at times hitting first and fourth in a lineup searching for ways to scratch runs.
“We knew that Troy, coming into Spring Training, could play a complete game – defense and offense,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “He’s showing that.”
On Monday, his second-inning bunt toward third off Astros starter Cody Bolton rolled onto the chalk line and stayed. During the Rockies’ eight-run, 14-batter fifth, Johnson’s bouncer to the middle hit the second base bag and bounced beyond shortstop Jeremy Peña, who fully expected it to be the third out.
Johnston reacted to the RBI double with the shrug heard ‘round the internet.
In the sixth, Johnston launched his second home run of the year, a towering shot to right off Ryan Weiss, who was on the mound for the shrug-worthy double. Having put the Rockies up 9-4, Johnston donned the coat, which arrived at Coors Field on Monday.
“What an honor it is that I was the first one to get to wear it,” he said, chuckling. ”It was a little big on me, but I’ll fit into it, eventually.”
To cap the night, the Astros cut the difference to 9-7 with one out in the eighth. Johnston fielded Peña’s fly to right and made a pinpoint one-hop throw to the plate to discourage Yanier Diaz from tagging from third. Johnston’s night wasn’t charmed enough for a cycle, as his eighth-inning bouncer didn’t hit the bag and ended up the final out.
But his night was charmed enough.
Winning pitcher Ryan Feltner said fist-bumping Johnston would be a good idea for all the Rockies.
“It’s fun to watch him right now,” Feltner said. “I’d like a little bit of that mojo.”
For a guy not many years removed from no mo’ money or baseball, mojo fits fine.