CHICAGO -- As Ryan Johnson finished getting ready in the bullpen ahead of his highly anticipated MLB debut, he walked out onto a Major League field for the first time in his career and pumped his right fist into his glove to get himself in the right headspace leading up to his historic appearance.
Johnson became just the 24th drafted player to reach the Major Leagues without playing in the Minors and looked sharp in the seventh inning before serving up two homers in the eighth inning of the Angels¡¯ 8-1 loss to the White Sox on Opening Day on Thursday afternoon at Rate Field. He joined Houston¡¯s Cam Smith as the quickest to reach the Majors from the 2024 Draft class. Johnson was Los Angeles¡¯ second-round pick as compensation for losing Shohei Ohtani via free agency.
It¡¯s nothing new for the Angels, who have had the first player to reach the big leagues in each of the past four Drafts, with Johnson following Chase Silseth (2021), Zach Neto (¡®22) and Nolan Schanuel (¡®23).
¡°It was cool,¡± said Johnson, who allowed five runs over 1 2/3 innings. ¡°It's still a fun experience with all the learning. We didn't have the day that we wanted, but that's not a bad thing. We can learn from it, we can grow, and that's what we want to do.¡±
Johnson, ranked as the club¡¯s No. 7 prospect by MLB Pipeline, became the first player with no Minor League experience to get to the Majors after being drafted since Garrett Crochet in 2020 and the first Angels player to accomplish the feat since Jim Abbott in 1989. Additionally, he became the first Angels pitcher to make his big league debut on Opening Day since reliever Darren O¡¯Day in 2008.
Johnson started out by throwing a 1-2-3 seventh inning with a strikeout and two groundouts on just 11 pitches. He settled in immediately, getting Lenyn Sosa to ground out to second base on his very first pitch, a 95.6 mph sinker perfectly dotted down and away.
The 6-foot-6, 215-pounder picked up his first strikeout against Korey Lee on an 89.9 mph cutter that Lee took for a strike. He then got Jacob Amaya to ground to short on a 3-2 cutter to get through his first career inning unscathed.
¡°I was pounding the zone a little bit better,¡± Johnson said. ¡°And I was able to locate pitches more down in the zone.¡±
But after a long half inning that saw the Angels -- down three runs -- load the bases with two outs only to have Jorge Soler strike out on a 3-2 pitch out of the zone, Johnson had a tough time in his second frame.
The right-hander gave up back-to-back ground-ball singles before surrendering a three-run homer to Andrew Benintendi on a 2-1 fastball up in the zone. After he issued a rare walk with two outs, Johnson allowed a two-run shot to Sosa on an 0-1 cutter over the middle. It led to the Angels using utilityman Nicky Lopez to record the final out of the inning to preserve their bullpen arms for the rest of the series.
Catcher Logan O¡¯Hoppe still was impressed by Johnson¡¯s stuff and composure, and he took the blame for calling the fastball with Benintendi at the plate.
¡°He's always known for filling up the zone and making his pitches,¡± O'Hoppe said. ¡°The heater to Benintendi, that was my fault. That was the wrong pitch in that spot. For someone who didn¡¯t pitch in the Minor Leagues, he did an unbelievable job of keeping his emotions in check and attacking the zone. I feel guilty for putting him in that position with the homer.¡±
It was a ¡°welcome to the big leagues¡± moment for Johnson, who made the club after a strong showing in Spring Training that saw him post a 3.97 ERA with 10 strikeouts and one walk in 11 1/3 innings. He possesses plenty of funk with his delivery and throws strikes, as evidenced by his 151-to-14 strikeout-to-walk ratio he had in 106 innings as a junior at Dallas Baptist University last year.
Manager Ron Washington said he won¡¯t hesitate to put Johnson back out there again when he¡¯s available and said he¡¯s not concerned after the Angels dropped their regular-season opener for the 11th time over the past 12 seasons.
¡°He did a real good job in his first inning,¡± Washington said. ¡°And I also thought he was just one pitch away in his second inning of work. He left a few balls up, and they didn't miss him. That's what happened.¡±