Robert James Johnson (born July 22, 1982) is an American former

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 ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

and

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

who played for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

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

, and

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

from 2007 to 2013.

Amateur career

Johnson attended

Saddleback College Saddleback College is a public community college in Mission Viejo, California. It is part of the California Community College system and awards over 300 associate degrees, academic certificates, and occupational skills awards in 190 programs. ...

Mission Viejo, California Mission Viejo ( ; language change, corruption of ; ) is a Commuter town, commuter city in the Saddleback Valley in Orange County, California, United States. Mission Viejo is considered one of the largest Planned community, master-planned commu ...

, and was named MVP of the Orange Empire League in . In 2003, he attended the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

for one season. In the summer of 2003, 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 ...

in the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. He was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 4th round (123rd overall) of the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft.

Professional career

Seattle Mariners

Following a breakout season, Seattle Mariners

General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Bill Bavasi promoted Johnson to the Triple-A level

Tacoma Rainiers The Tacoma Rainiers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. They are located in Tacoma, Washington, and play their home games at Cheney Stadium, ...

at the start of the . After the

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

signing of Japanese baseball star catcher Kenji Johjima and the selection of

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

slugging catcher

Jeff Clement Jeffrey Burton Clement (born August 21, 1983) is an American former professional baseball player. Clement was a catcher and first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners and Pittsburgh Pirates. Clement attende ...

, Johnson moved down the Mariners organizational depth chart. In , he was named the

team captain. Johnson made his Major League Debut on September 4, , and played sparingly for the rest of the campaign with the Mariners. He had 1

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

(his first in MLB) in 3

at-bats In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, b ...

for a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of .333, he also stole a base during his callup, during which he appeared in 6 games. Johnson was recalled to Seattle for the final month of the season when the rosters expanded from 25 to 40 for the month of September during which he hit his first major league home run, a two-run blast off of

Jerry Blevins Jerry Richard Blevins (born September 6, 1983), nicknamed Gordo (Spanish for "fat"), is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Blevins was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 17th round of the 2004 Major League Baseball draft, and made ...

of the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

in a game on September 27 at

Safeco Field T-Mobile Park is a retractable roof ballpark in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the home stadium of the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball and has a seating capacity of 47,929. It is in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood, near the w ...

. He played in the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season baseball league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are filled ...

after the season. Going into

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

it was thought that catcher

would be the back-up catcher and designated hitter on the opening day roster. However, with the signing of the left-handed hitting

Ken Griffey Jr. George Kenneth Griffey Jr. (born November 21, 1969), nicknamed "Junior" and "the Kid", is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played 22 years in Major League Baseball (MLB). He spent most of his career with the Seattle Mari ...

, Clement would have little playing time at the designated hitter position. This left the door open for Johnson on the opening day roster. In 2009, Johnson cracked the opening day roster with the Mariners for the first time in his career. Primarily used as a back-up catcher in the beginning on the season, Johnson later became the a starter due to his good rapport with the Mariners' pitching staff and an early season injury to primary catcher Kenji Johjima. When Johjima was activated from the disabled list Johnson again became the back-up catcher. However, Johjima again went on the disabled list in late-May and Johnson became the primary catcher again. Mariners

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Don Wakamatsu Wilbur Donald Wakamatsu (born February 22, 1963) is an American former professional baseball player, scout, coach, and manager. Wakamatsu was drafted in the 11th round of the 1985 Major League Baseball draft by the Cincinnati Reds. He played as ...

stated that Johnson handled the pitching staff better than Johjima. On June 13, Johnson was placed on the bereavement list to respond to a "family emergency". On June 19, he was activated from the bereavement list. In a 7–6 Mariners win over the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

, Johnson tied a club record with three doubles in one game on July 3. His third double of the game became the decisive hit as it scored the winning run for the Mariners in the top of the 11th inning in

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a ballpark located in Boston, Massachusetts, less than one mile from Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home field of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Boston Red Sox. While the stadium was built in 1912, it was substantia ...

. At season's end it was reported that Johnson would undergo three surgeries, the first on his left hip, the second on his right hip and the third on his left wrist. He is expected to make a recovery in time for

. Johnson's hip ailments were detected during an

MRI Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to generate pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and rad ...

exam on October 5 in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

. It is a similar injury sustained by 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 ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

Alex Rodriguez Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop, third baseman and designated hitter and current businessman. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (ML ...

. Johnson's 2010 season was a disappointment, hitting .191/.293/.281 in 61 games for the Mariners. He was demoted to the AAA

on August 3, where he hit .297/.403/.453 in 19 games. On December 13, he was designated for assignment by the Mariners.

San Diego Padres

Johnson was claimed by the

on December 21, 2010. In return, the Mariners received cash considerations or a player to be named later.

New York Mets

On December 22, 2011, Johnson signed a minor league deal with the

with an invite to spring training. On May 8, 2012, Johnson was called up after

Josh Thole Joshua Michael Thole (pronounced toll-EE) (born October 28, 1986) is an American former professional baseball catcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays. Early life Thole grew up in Breese, Ill ...

was sent to the 7-day disabled list. On May 18, 2012, Johnson pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth inning against the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

, a game which the Blue Jays won 14–5. Johnson became the first position player to pitch for the Mets since July 26, 2004, when infielder

Todd Zeile Todd Edward Zeile (; born September 9, 1965) is an American former professional baseball third baseman, catcher, and first baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played 16 seasons, from 1989 to 2004, for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, ...

took the mound for the Mets in Montreal. After hitting .313/.371/.344 over 34 at-bats while sharing time behind the plate with Mike Nickeas, Johnson was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo upon Thole's return on June 1. On June 25, he was recalled after Nickeas was farmed out, only to get sent back down to Buffalo on August 15 after the Mets traded for

Kelly Shoppach Kelly Brian Shoppach (pronounced SHOP-ick; born April 29, 1980) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Tampa Bay Rays, New York Mets, Seattle Marin ...

. The move was rescinded and Johnson was placed on the disabled list after it was discovered he had suffered a torn ligament in his left thumb. His season over, Johnson was outrighted off the Mets' 40-man roster October 17 and became a free agent.

St. Louis Cardinals

On November 13, 2012, Johnson signed a minor league deal with the

with an invitation to participate in spring training as a non-roster player. His contract was purchased from AAA-Memphis and called up on July 9, 2013. Johnson was called in to pitch to secure the final out in a 13–4 loss to the Dodgers on August 7, 2013. He struck out Dodger's rookie pitcher Paco Rodriguez on 4 pitches. Johnson was given his outright release by the Cardinals on November 5, 2013 and elected free agency. He had 35 total at-bats with St. Louis in the 2013 season.

Return to Padres and retirement

Johnson signed a minor league deal with the San Diego Padres in February 2014, intending to switch to pitching full-time. However, after being sidelined in the spring due to elbow pain, Johnson learned that he had torn the

ulnar collateral ligament Ulnar collateral ligament (or UCL) may refer to: * Ulnar carpal collateral ligament * Ulnar collateral ligament of elbow joint The ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) or internal lateral ligament is a thick triangular ligament at the medial aspec ...

in his throwing arm, and would need to undergo

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, sometimes referred to as Tommy John surgery is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's body, ...

in order to catch again. On May 23, 2014, Johnson announced via his official Facebook page that he had chosen to retire from professional baseball.

Personal life

Born in

Butte, Montana Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the 2 ...

he played Little League in

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

.Foley, Bill (April 17, 2009). "Life in the Big Leagues: Butte's Robbie Johnson living the dream". - ''

The Montana Standard ''The Montana Standard'' is a daily newspaper in Butte, Montana, owned by Lee Enterprises Lee Enterprises, Inc. is a publicly traded American media company. It publishes 72 daily newspapers in 25 states, and more than 350 weekly, classified, ...

''. He attended Butte Central Catholic High School (graduated 2001). He played for the local American Legion team (Montana and Wyoming are the only states to not include baseball on a High School level). He worked on his family ranch through his

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

year in high school.

Family

He currently resides in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. He has four children. Married Kristan Bettis Johnson in 2006.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Rob 1983 births Living people Seattle Mariners players San Diego Padres players New York Mets players St. Louis Cardinals players Baseball players from Montana Houston Cougars baseball players Major League Baseball catchers Saddleback Gauchos baseball players Arizona League Mariners players Everett AquaSox players Inland Empire 66ers players Wisconsin Timber Rattlers players Tacoma Rainiers players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Memphis Redbirds players Sportspeople from Butte, Montana Peoria Javelinas players Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox players 2005 Baseball World Cup players