Erik Craig Johnson (born December 30, 1989) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

and

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 (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

Professional career

Chicago White Sox

Johnson played college baseball at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

and was drafted in the 2nd round by the

during the

2011 MLB Draft The 2011 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2011, from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Gerrit Cole out of the University of California, Los Angeles, with the first ...

. He started his career with the Rookie-Level

Great Falls Voyagers The Great Falls Voyagers are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. They are located in Great Falls, Montana, and play their home games at Cente ...

in 2011. He only pitched in two games and two innings during the 2011 season. In 2012, Johnson started the season with Class A

Kannapolis Intimidators Kannapolis () is a city in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, Cabarrus and Rowan County, North Carolina, Rowan counties, in the U.S. state of North Carolina, northwest of Concord, North Carolina, Concord and northeast of Charlotte, North Carolina, ...

but was later promoted to

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

Winston-Salem Dash The Winston-Salem Dash are a Minor League Baseball team in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They are a High-A team in the South Atlantic League and have been a farm team of the Chicago White Sox since 1997. The Dash began playing their home games at ...

. Johnson finished the 2012 season with a combined record of 6–5 during 17 starts, innings, 2.53 ERA, 82 hits, 29 walks and 87 strikeouts. At the start of the 2013 season, Johnson was ranked the White Sox #3 prospect. He started the season at Double-A

Birmingham Barons The Birmingham Barons are a Minor League Baseball team based in Birmingham, Alabama. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox and plays at Regions Field in downtown Birmingham. The current ...

. After going 8–2 in 14 starts, innings, 2.23 ERA, 57 hits, 21 walks and 74 strikeouts, he was promoted to Triple-A

Charlotte Knights The Charlotte Knights are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. They are located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and play their home games at Truist Field, which opened in 20 ...

. Johnson made his MLB debut with the White Sox on September 4, 2013.

San Diego Padres

On June 4, 2016, Johnson and Fernando Tatís Jr. were traded to the

in exchange for James Shields. After the trade, he was demoted to AAA but was called up to pitch in the Padres rotation a week later. Through his first four starts with the Padres, Johnson was 0–4 with an ERA of 9.15 while allowing more than four runs in each start. He was placed on the disabled list on July 1. On October 11, 2016, it was announced that Johnson would miss the entire 2017 season after undergoing

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), 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 bo ...

. On December 16, Johnson signed a new minor league contract with the Padres. He elected free agency on November 6, 2017. On March 6, 2018, Johnson resigned a minor league deal with the

. He was assigned to AA

San Antonio Missions The San Antonio Missions are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. They are located in San Antonio, Texas, and are named for the Spanish missions around which the city was founded. ...

for the 2018 season, after which he became a free agent.

References

External links

California Golden Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Erik 1989 births Living people People from Mountain View, California Baseball players from California Major League Baseball pitchers Chicago White Sox players San Diego Padres players California Golden Bears baseball players Great Falls Voyagers players Kannapolis Intimidators players Winston-Salem Dash players Birmingham Barons players Charlotte Knights players San Antonio Missions players El Paso Chihuahuas players