Mark J. Johnson (born May 2, 1975) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher. Johnson pitched in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

in . He is currently the pitching coach for the Lancaster Stormers.

Career

Johnson attended Springboro High School and the

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. In 1994, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League. Johnson was drafted by the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

in the first round (19th overall) of the 1996 MLB draft. After the 1997 season, Houston traded Johnson, Manuel Barrios, and Oscar Henriquez to the Florida Marlins for Moisés Alou. In February 1999, the Marlins traded Johnson, Ed Yarnall, and Todd Noel to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

for Mike Lowell. After the 1999 season, the

chose Johnson in the Rule 5 draft. He pitched in nine games for the Tigers, his only stint in the majors. The Tigers released him on June 28. Johnson continued to pitch in the minors until 2005. He pitched in the Milwaukee Brewers and Tigers organizations in 2002, the Tigers in 2003, the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

system in 2004, and the Tigers in 2005.

Coaching career

Johnson became a pitching coach in the Tigers minor league system beginning in 2007 with the Oneonta Tigers. He then coached for the West Michigan White Caps, Connecticut Tigers, Lakeland Flying Tigers, and Erie SeaWolves, coaching the Triple-A affiliate in 2019 and 2021. On March 18, 2022, Johnson was hired as the pitching coach for the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. He helped Lancaster win Atlantic League titles in his first two seasons with the team.

References

External links

1975 births Living people Baseball coaches from Ohio Baseball players from Dayton, Ohio Brewster Whitecaps players Detroit Tigers players Erie SeaWolves players Gulf Coast Yankees players Hawaii Rainbow Warriors baseball players Indianapolis Indians players Kissimmee Cobras players Las Vegas 51s players Leones del Caracas players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Major League Baseball pitchers Minor league baseball coaches Norwich Navigators players Portland Sea Dogs players Tampa Yankees players Toledo Mud Hens players University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-pitcher-1970s-stub