This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding’s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CHICAGO – Almost counterintuitively, being in the Major Leagues has made preparation a more efficient proposition for the Rockies’ Troy Johnston.
Until his 44-game debut with the Marlins late last season, Johnston, 28, was a productive Minor Leaguer without a spot. The Rockies claimed him off waivers after last season. Making the squad out of Spring Training put the studious Johnston in position to take advantage of copious amounts of scouting information.
“Sometimes, hitting in Double-A and Triple-A is actually harder than hitting in the big leagues – not because of the lights, not because of the pressure,” Johnston said. “But you find a guy in Triple-A and you’ll have a scouting report like, ‘He’s a four-seam/curveball guy. But he just got sent down from the big leagues, and now he’s a sinker/slider guy' – and my whole scouting report is off. I don’t even know what I’m looking for.
“Here in the big leagues, a lot of guys stick to their plans. A lot of guys have a purpose.”
Following Tuesday night's 5-2 win over the Cubs, Johnston ranks fifth in the National League with a .312 batting average, is tied for first with 21 doubles and sits 11th with a .373 on-base percentage.
But Johnston has set out to add some twists to his own scouting report.
Johnston loves hitting breaking balls – .329 with a .605 slugging percentage, all three of his homers and 12 of his doubles going into Tuesday.
But Johnston’s preference for breaking pitches is no secret. Pitchers know all about it.
“It was about the first week in May and I went over to Amir [Mamdani, Rockies director of baseball operations] and said, ‘Hey, I feel I’m getting a lot of fastballs – I wonder if that’s true,’” Johnston said.
According to Statcast, from the opening of the season through May 7, Johnston faced MLB’s 13th-highest rate of four-seam fastballs, 39.2 percent. The rate May 8 through Monday was slightly higher – 40.3 percent (minimum 400 total pitches seen).
Johnston’s success rate against four-seamers has dropped – .317 in 36 at-bats through May 7; .185 and no extra-base hits in 27 at-bats May 8 through Monday.
Part of it is Johnston is being trusted more often against left-handed pitching, which is an ongoing adjustment. But Johnston has fouled off enough quality fastballs to force pitchers to use breaking balls.
At the same time that he hit .185 on fastballs, he sizzled at .385 against breaking pitches.
So Johnston continues to search to put himself in position to hit the fastball, while making sure to be on the breaking pitch. And he’s trying to keep the numbers in perspective.
“I have a line that I would tell guys, especially young guys in Triple-A,” he said. “I said, 'You only need probably eight good weeks out of the whole year, and you’re going to have a great year.'
“Honestly, it’s hard not to look at those numbers, especially because everything is so accessible — at your fingertips and up on the board.”
So far, Johnston has shown the ability to digest all of the information and hit accordingly.