If you saw C Jonathan Johnston's career stats you'd probably think that his baseball career ended years ago. He was a 42nd round draft pick by the Oakland Athletics in 2007. He didn't play at all that year and played in only 38 games the following year in a mid-level A ball league, posting an impressive .992 fielding percentage and throwing out over 30 percent of baserunners but only batting .228. It would have appeared that he'd been released.
A further study would indicate that he was still a member of Oakland's minor league register. So what was the deal with Johnston? He played his college ball at the Naval Academy and was deployed three times, the 38 games the only he could manage to play around his military career.
But Johnston is back now. His four years in the Navy are up (he's still in the reserves but in a unit which is unlikely to see deployment) and he's resuming his professional baseball career. Give Oakland some credit. They could have released Johnston at any point in time over the last three seasons. But they had enough faith in his receiving skills to keep him in the loop. The A's hope that after Spring Training 2011 or perhaps by 2012 (depending on how long it takes Johnston to get his wind back) that he'll be a fringe player between AAA and the Majors and be knocking on the door as a future reserve catcher.
Johnston will resume his professional baseball career shortly by playing in a Winter League in California. Johnston knows that it's an uphill battle at this point. He's 27 now, an age at which most players are dumped if they have not yet reached the bigs, so he knows that his days are numbered. But he's going to report to Spring Training (he has not been invited to big league camp) and put his work in, hoping to keep his pro baseball career alive for a little longer.
Johnston has read Texas Rangers OF Josh Hamilton's book and cites his career as proof that he can still play. Hamilton missed several years due to severe drug and alcohol abuse and reached the Majors with the Cincinnati Reds at the age of 27, the same age as Johnston is now. Hamilton was in terrible shape for many of those lost years, once weighing less than 90 pounds. In contrast, Johnston has been in impeccable shape for his entire absence from the game. So he knows that he can still play.
His goal? To say that he had his shot in professional baseball and took it. And the Majors? That's a goal too, but not reaching the bigs would not mark a failure for Johnston. Granted, he does want to be the second player from the Naval Academy to reach the Majors after former Washington Senators LHP Nemo Gaines.
No matter the outcome, Johnston has no regrets. This is certainly a player to watch this season and in future years.
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