SEASON SUMMARY

Jason Johnson entered the 2002 season attempting to prove that 2001 wasn't a fluke.  Not that 2001 was all that phenomenal, but it was a decent year, the first time Johnson had allowed fewer hits than innings pitched and the first time he'd ever thrown more than 120 innings in a season (196.0 IP).  His 4.09 ERA was by far the lowest of his career.

Unfortunately, Johnson's 2002 performance didn't match that of 2001.  Jason came down with shoulder problems after just four starts and spent the next seven-odd weeks on the shelf before returning on June 8.  He made just 18 starts the rest of the season, and managed just 131.1 innings for the season.  Beyond that, his ERA ballooned a half a run.

Was 2002 a complete washout?  Not really.

When he was pitching, Johnson really wasn't that much worse than in 2001.  The win-loss record should (as always) be ignored.  Johnson was given a scant 3.36 runs per start to work with, anemic even by Oriole standards.  Johnson actually cut his walks allowed back dramatically, to a perfectly respectable 2.81 BB/9IP, implying that he may have finally put his control struggles behind him.  Though the hits allowed went up slightly, Jason actually allowed fewer baserunners per nine innings in 2002 than in 2001.  At the same time, he pushed his SO/9IP mark up to a career best 6.65.  His home runs per nine innings mark, though still high, remained essentially unchanged.

In fact, Johnson really was very close to the same pitcher in 2002 as he was in 2001, excepting the loss of 64.2 innings pitched.  And that's no minor consideration.  

If Johnson can match his overall performance of the past couple of seasons, he can be a modest asset to the Orioles, he has a couple of plus pitches (fastball, slider) which he has shown an increasing ability to spot.  But he absolutely must pitch a full season to have any real value.

TO CONTRIBUTE SIGNIFICANTLY NEXT YEAR, HE MUST:

1) stay healthy; Johnson's now 29 and has never pitched 200 innings in a season; despite missing nearly two months last year, he recorded the second highest IP output of his career

2) cut down on the gopher balls; it would take a dramatic reduction, but if he could drop this to the league average or below, he'd be a better than average major league pitcher

3) drop the hits allowed, at least a bit

4) find a third pitch that he's confident throwing

NOTES

was significantly more effective against LH batters (.261/.319/.394 in 249 ABs) than RH batters (.290/.351/.492 in 262 ABs)...before the All-Star break--3.82 ERA, 6 HR in 61.1 IP; after break, 5.27 ERA, 13 HR in 70 IP...allowed eight home runs in three disastrous starts (15.2 IP) vs. Toronto...in fact, allowed 12 HRs in 24.1 IP vs. Texas and Toronto; 7 HRs in 107 IP vs. everyone else...batters putting first pitch in play managed .358 BA, .657 SLG in 67 ABs.

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