Here are today’s minor moves from around baseball:
- Longtime major league first baseman Dan Johnson has signed with the Bridgeport Bluefish of the Atlantic League, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (Twitter link). Johnson will both pitch and play the field for the Bluefish, according to Topkin. The 36-year-old raised eyebrows in March when he signed a minor league deal with the Rays in hopes of cracking their roster as a knuckleball pitcher. Tampa ultimately released Johnson a few weeks later, thus dashing his dream – at least temporarily – of moving from first to the mound in the bigs. Johnson spent last season with the Cardinals and Reds organizations, logging 21 plate appearances in St. Louis. Over 1,625 major league PAs with six different teams, Johnson has hit a serviceable .234/.335/.405. He’s perhaps most famous for a dramatic home run in 2011 that helped send the Rays to the playoffs on the final day of the regular season.
Very cool! Good luck making it back to the show!!
I think Dan Johnson could still be a starting first basemen in the bigs but I could see him as a knuckleballer in the bigs, potentially the next R.A. Dickey