If you haven’t caught sight of the Rockies’ new home run celebration -- it’s hard to miss – Troy Johnston made sure to show it off for all to see when he joined MLB Central in-studio on Friday alongside teammate Mickey Moniak.
As the segment started, Johnston was standing alongside Moniak, wearing an enormous and very Rockies purple faux fur coat. Host Robert Flores couldn’t help but begin his line of questioning with the fashion statement.
Where exactly did this coat come from?
Someone Johnston referred to as “Gabe,” perhaps assistant pitching coach Gabe Ribas or director of physical performance Gabe Bauer, randomly brought the piece to work one day.
“Instantly, everybody loved it,” Johnston said on MLB Network. “I’m not gonna lie, it kind of smells like Mickey from yesterday … smells like homers, huh?”
Of course, Moniak has quite a claim to the coat now. Through 19 games, he already has eight home runs to lead the Rockies and tie for fifth across MLB.
But Johnston got to it first. His second big fly of the year, on April 7, gave him the esteemed moment of debuting the celebration.
“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.”
Johnston has been a heartwarming story for the Rockies this year, ranking sixth across the Majors with a .325 batting average and carrying a strong .862 OPS. That has all come shortly after he nearly retired from baseball in 2024, even beginning to lineup a corporate sales job. He then debuted with the Marlins in 2025 but was released at the end of the year.
“I was fully done with baseball,” Johnston 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."
Now, the 28-year-old Johnston -- once the Marlins’ Minor League Player of the Year in 2023 -- has a home. A young Colorado team is off to a 10-16, with a handful of better-than-expected results. Johnston also has a clear appreciation for the journey that brought him here.
“Honestly, it’s partly about being hungry and wanting to be here. Everybody knows The Show is fantastic, so you don’t want to go anywhere else,” he said. “You just keep going and you keep trying to do your best. That’s really what the Rockies are doing, we’re trying to get 1% better every day. And as much as we can, we’re trying to win. That’s what we’re here to do.”