William Jeffrey "Jeff" Johnson (born August 4, 1966) is a former

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), ...

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 with 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) Amer ...

for his entire Major League career. Born in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

, Johnson attended South Granville High School, then

University of North Carolina at Charlotte The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte or simply Charlotte) is a public research university in Charlotte, North Carolina. UNC Charlotte offers 24 doctoral, 66 master's, and 79 bachelor's degree programs through nine colle ...

where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

. He was only one of nine people from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to have played Major League Baseball. On June 1, 1988, Johnson was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 6th round (157th overall pick) of the 1988 amateur draft. He was listed at in height, and 200 lb. in weight. During his three-year Major League Baseball career, Johnson batted right-handed and threw left-handed. He is currently the pitching coach for the

West Virginia Power The Charleston Dirty Birds are an American professional baseball team based in Charleston, West Virginia. They are a member of the South Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a partner league of Major League Baseball. The Dir ...

Major League Baseball career

Jeff Johnson made his major league debut on June 5, 1991 at age 24 with the New York Yankees. On that day, 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) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

were playing against the Yankees at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...

, with 21,213 people attending the game. Johnson was the

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

for the game. He pitched until the seventh

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...

, then he was replaced by Eric Plunk. Plunk finished the game. Unfortunately, at the end of the game, the New York Yankees lost to the Toronto Blue Jays 4–1. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' published an article on March 20, 1992, mentioning that Johnson had been bothered by rumors he had heard about the New York Yankees pursuing different pitchers. Johnson played his final major league baseball game on June 12, 1993. On September 17, 1993, Johnson was released by the New York Yankees. He then signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player 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 contract at present but who is a ...

with the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

on February 14, 1994, though he never pitched for them. At the end of his career, Johnson had pitched a total of 182.1 innings. He also earned a career

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA) of 6.52, with 8 wins and 16 losses, along with 76

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

References

External links

Baseball AlmanacWhatIfSportsJeff Johnson
at

Baseball Prospectus Baseball Prospectus (BP) is an organization that publishes a website, BaseballProspectus.com, devoted to the sabermetric analysis of baseball. BP has a staff of regular columnists and provides advanced statistics as well as player and team perf ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Jeff 1966 births Living people Major League Baseball pitchers New York Yankees players Charlotte 49ers baseball players Baseball players from Durham, North Carolina Oneonta Yankees players Prince William Cannons players Fort Lauderdale Yankees players Albany-Colonie Yankees players Columbus Clippers players Charlotte Knights players