Wake Forest Athletics
Johnson Leads With Steady Mentality And Fierce Competitiveness
4/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 8, 2002
By Sam Walker
One of the first pictures Ryan Johnson ever remembers seeing of himself is one of him standing beside his father in front of famed Fenway Park in Boston, a red, plastic whiffle bat laid on his shoulder. He was about a year old at the time. Little did he know that picture was just a foreshadowing. Johnson, a junior outfielder on the Wake Forest baseball team, now wields a heavier and more potent bat, and with it he has made quite an impact.
The right fielder from Laguna Hills, Calif., is part of a junior-dominated team that is striving to sustain success and continue the high standard that has been set at Wake Forest. Last year the Diamond Deacons went 44-18, won the ACC Championship for the third time in four seasons and advanced to the NCAA sub-regional before being knocked out by Tennessee. Gone are key contributors from last year's squad, and with just three seniors, the Deacons have reloaded with seven freshmen and six transfers. With a 19-4 start and wins over some highly touted competitors, this doesn't appear to be a rebuilding year. Johnson's role in all this, according to head coach George Greer, is to be a steady defender, provide a big bat and yet be one of the most competitive players on the team: a unique combination.
"Ryan is on of the players on the team who is very level-headed," Greer said. " He keeps everything in perspective, is a leader by example, steady in the outfield, steady in the classroom, and he's a steadying influence on our team. He's a very good hitter, very aggressive and very competitive. He has a real calming influence on the team, yet he is really competitive, which is an odd combination and that makes him unique."
Johnson began his junior season fresh off a summer of action playing in the famed Cape Cod League, the same league in which Greer coached many outstanding summer teams at Cotuit. Johnson played for the Chatham As, the team featured in the recent Warner Brother's movie release titled "Summer Catch." The wooden bat league in known for having the best collegiate players in the country, and many major league superstars once honed their skills on the Cape. Players take jobs in their respective communities, live with host families and play lots of baseball. Johnson worked maintaining the Chatham field, but others worked on golf courses or in hardware stores to earn summer money.
"It's unbelievable," Johnson said. "You face the best pitching every day. You play with wooden bats, so going back to aluminum the first day we just all laugh because it's like a kid getting a candy bar. But it was a little unusual because our team was so close. Usually when you get that much talent together, egos get in the way. But we did everything together. Our coach (John Schiffner) was in tears at the end of the season because it was so unique."
Through 23 games Johnson is hitting .347 with 20 RBIs and two home runs. He is the fifth leading hitter on the team, and that, he feels, has been his greatest contribution so far this season. Tendinitis has limited his play in the outfield and Greer said he hopes Johnson will be back to 100 percent soon. Johnson has started 17 games and played in 21. So hitting has been something he and Greer knew he could provide because it just comes naturally.
"We relied heavily on him last year," Greer said. "He had a little bit of an arm problem so he hasn't play the outfield as much. He provides steady defense but provides an above average bat in the lineup. He could hit second for us, he could hit third, fourth, fifth, and he's going to do well. You put him in a pinch-hitting role, and he's going to do well. He's one of those kids who comes through, and as he's gotten older the pressure doesn't seem to bother him much. He really thrives on it. He's a junior, but he's a leader. He wants to be on the field."
"I used to hit in the back yard with dad, but you work every day," Johnson said. "Sometimes I go out there and I'll feel great, and the next I'll go to the plate and it feels like I haven't swung a bat in two years. I like to hit until I get comfortable. Sometimes I'll take 10 buckets of balls and sometimes I'll take just a few swings. It's a feel, and that's something I learned from the older guys. I just like to get comfortable with my swing. But it's something that's come naturally."
Johnson, although still recovering from influenza, felt comfortable with his swing during a mid-March series against ACC rival Georgia Tech. Johnson spent most of the game in the dugout drinking water. Knowing he would not start, he had not eaten solid food but was called to action when Georgia Tech switched to a right-handed pitcher against whom Johnson had had success in the past. Although he knew he wasn't feeling his best he convinced coaches he could play. His first at-bat he rolled a weak grounder. But in his second at-bat he connected with the hit that won the big game.
"That was, to date, probably the best individual moment," Johnson said. "It's something I'll never forget - winning a game against a rival school like that, then as I was rounding second I could see the team run out to greet the guys at home plate. It was a sea of white coming out to greet me. It was just a great feeling. I just got a little extension on it and got it over the center fielder's head."
After batting .423 in the ACC as a sophomore and continuing his success at the plate this year, Johnson is fulfilling one of his personal goals: to be respected as a hitter throughout the league. "When you're ahead in the count 3-1 or 3-0 and teams are still throwing you off-speed stuff, you know they have respect for you as a hitter," Johnson said. "That was something I wanted to get when I came here because there have been so many good hitters in the ACC."
The College World Series is again the goal for the Deacons. It's a goal set seasons ago by past teams, and it's a goal this year's team wants to fulfill for players past and present. With a roster full of underclassmen, transfers and talented freshmen few have picked this Wake Forest team to be the one that might go to Omaha. Although young, this team is proving it's maintaining the standard because of the steady leadership of players like Johnson.
"I guess it's all from hard work, but I like to say our whole team has a certain Karma to it because we all seem to come through, win the big game and get the clutch hit," Johnson said. "It's exciting to see what we can do because we have so many new faces, but everyone in our lineup can step up and get that key hit for us. We don't need to panic. We're just very relaxed and go out there and get our hits. Our team doesn't feel any pressure at all. We want to win very badly, but we don't feel the pressure because we're a new team, a laid-back team. The expectations we set for ourselves are high, but I don't think anyone else had them..."
