Dan Johnson (baseball)

Dan Johnson
Johnson during his tenure with the Yokohama BayStars in 2009.
Tampa Bay Rays — No. 24
First baseman/Third Baseman/Left fielder
Born: August 10, 1979 (1979-08-10) (age 32) Coon Rapids, Minnesota
Bats: Left	Throws: Right
MLB debut
May 27, 2005 for the Oakland Athletics
Career statistics (through May 14, 2011)
Batting average	.236
Home runs	52
Runs batted in	187
Teams
Oakland Athletics (2005–2008) Tampa Bay Rays (2008) Yokohama BayStars (2009) Tampa Bay Rays (2010–2011)
Career highlights and awards
Topps All-Star Rookie First Baseman (2005)

Johnson playing for the Oakland Athletics in 2007.

Daniel Ryan Johnson (born August 10, 1979, in Coon Rapids, Minnesota) is a first baseman and designated hitter with the Tampa Bay Rays. He has played in all or part of seven seasons in Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball, but has never held a Major League starting job for an entire season. He is best known for hitting a dramatic two-out, two-strike home run in the bottom of the 9th inning of the last game of the 2011 season, tying a game that the Rays would eventually win, sending them to the playoffs.

High school and college

He graduated from Blaine High School, in Blaine, Minnesota in 1997.^[1] He then attended Butler University for his freshman year,^[2] when he was named All-Conference in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. He transferred to a junior college, and finally ended up at the University of Nebraska,^[2] where he helped the Cornhuskers make a College World Series appearance,^[3] and earned All-American honors.

Professional baseball career

Oakland A's (2005–08)

Johnson played his rookie season with the A's in 2005, batting .275 with 15 home runs and 58 RBIs.^[4] He struggled early in 2006, batting .237 before being demoted to the A's Triple-A Pacific Coast League affiliate, the Sacramento River Cats, in July. He returned to the A's roster on August 31,^[1] and finished the season with a .234 batting average, 9 home runs, and 37 RBIs.^[4] It was later discovered that he suffered from double vision due to getting suntan lotion in his eyes, and he was able to clear up the problem for the 2007 season.^[5]

Johnson was expected to be the A's starting first baseman in 2007,^[6] but suffered a torn labrum in his hip late in spring training and missed the first three weeks of the season. He returned April 25^[7] and proceeded to get a hit in 16 of his first 18 games. He was named American League co-Player of the Week with teammate Jack Cust for the week of May 7–13.^[8] After the hot start, Johnson fell into a slump that lasted the rest of the season and plummeted his batting average to .236. His worst month was July, in which he batted just .156 (10-for-64 in 19 games) with two home runs and eight runs batted in. On April 9, 2008, Johnson was designated for assignment.

Tampa Bay Rays (2008)

On April 18, 2008, he was claimed off waivers by the Tampa Bay Rays. However, five days later he was again designated for assignment. He was subsequently outrighted to Triple-A Durham three days later. On September 9, Johnson was called up by the Rays from Durham. He entered the game as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning, and hit a home run off Jonathan Papelbon, tying the game.

He batted .192 with a .276 on base percentage for the 2008 season.^[9]

Yokohama Baystars (2009)

Johnson signed a one-year contract for $1.2 million with the Yokohama Bay Stars of the Japanese Central League. He batted .215 in the 2009 season.^[10]

Back to Tampa (2010–present)

On January 11, 2010, Johnson signed a 1-year $500,000 major league deal with the Tampa Bay Rays. Johnson was called up from Durham to the Rays in August 2010. On August 28, he hit a walk-off home run in the 10th inning against the Boston Red Sox.

He batted just below the Mendoza line for the 2010 season, with a .198 batting average. He had 23 RBIs, 22 hits in 111 at bats, 3 doubles, and 7 home runs.

On May 20, 2011, Johnson was designated for assignment, ^[11] and then recalled on September 14, 2011.

On September 28, 2011, with the Rays tied with the Boston Red Sox in the American League wild card race in the final game of the season, Johnson hit a pinch-hit home run with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game against the New York Yankees. It was the first hit for Johnson since April 27th.^[12]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Cook, Mike (September 12, 2006). "Notes: Johnson home at the Dome". Major League Baseball. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060912&content_id=1659025&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb. Retrieved March 28, 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Slusser, Susan (April 11, 2006). "A's Johnson has lots of pluck, puck". San Francisco Chronicle. http://articles.sfgate.com/2006-04-11/sports/17288748_1_baseball-camp-baseball-talent-hockey. Retrieved March 28, 2010. 
3. ^ Klein, Gary (June 8, 2001). "Fullerton Prepares for Daunting Task". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jun/08/sports/sp-7983. Retrieved March 28, 2010. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Dan Johnson". Baseball Reference. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnsda06.shtml. Retrieved March 28, 2010. 
5. ^ Baxter, Kevin (April 23, 2007). "20/20 vision? You might just be batting average". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2007/apr/23/sports/sp-vision23. Retrieved March 28, 2010. 
6. ^ Urban, Mychael (March 30, 2007). "Athletics Opening Day outlook". Major League Baseball. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070327&content_id=1861832&vkey=news_oak&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak. Retrieved March 28, 2010. 
7. ^ "A's Activate Johnson, Demote Melhuse". The Sports Network. Associated Press. April 25, 2007. http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=205536&hubname=mlb. Retrieved March 28, 2010. 
8. ^ "Oakland players share AL weekly honor". United Press International. May 14, 2007. http://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2007/05/14/Oakland-players-share-AL-weekly-honor/UPI-15321179181040/. Retrieved March 28, 2010. 
9. ^ "Dan Johnson Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnsda06.shtml. Retrieved April 9, 2011. 
10. ^ "Dan Johnson returns from Japan to sign with Tampa Bay Rays". espn.go.com. January 12, 2010. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4819136. Retrieved April 9, 2011. 
11. ^ Rays Designate Dan Johnson For Assignment, MLBTradeRumors.com, May 20, 2011.
12. ^ Pouliot, Matthew (28 September 2011). "Rays tie it in ninth on Dan Johnson homer". NBC Sports. http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/09/28/rays-tie-it-in-ninth-on-dan-johnson-homer/. Retrieved 28 September 2011. 

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Persondata
Name	Johnson, Dan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 10, 1979
Place of birth	Coon Rapids, Minnesota
Date of death
Place of death