University of Florida junior left-hander/designated
hitter Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) was selected in the first round
of the 2012 Major League Baseball Draft on Monday night by the Boston Red Sox
with the 31st choice. He joins teammate Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.),
taken third overall by the Seattle Mariners, as part of the first Gator duo to
be picked in the first round since Robby Thompson (San Francisco Giants)
and Rich Rice (Baltimore Orioles) went off the board together in 1983.
A second-team All-American by Louisville
Slugger and one of the five players in the running for the 2012 John Olerud
Award presented to the nation’s top two-way standout, Johnson has been chosen
first-team All-SEC for the past two seasons. On the season, he is 8-4 with a
3.56 earned run average on the mound and has 68 strikeouts in 86 innings, to go
along with a .310 clip, 40 RBI, 22 runs, 12 doubles and five homers. The
southpaw tossed his first career complete game to oust fourth-ranked South
Carolina from the SEC Tourney on May 25 and matched his career high with four
hits in the semifinal round the following day against Vanderbilt. In his most
recent outing, Johnson limited the high-powered Georgia Tech offense to one run
on three hits over five innings on Sunday night as the Gators cruised to a 15-3
victory over the Jackets to punch their fourth-straight ticket to Super
Regionals.
In 2011, Johnson was a semifinalist for both
the John Olerud Award and the Dick Howser Trophy and was chosen to the Watch
List for the Golden Spikes Award. The dual threat was 8-3 with a 3.62 ERA in
79.2 innings. He appeared in 16 games, with 15 starts, registered 72 strikeouts
and permitted 15 walks and had a .307 average with 29 RBI, 26 runs, 21 walks,
11 doubles and five homers. He started in all 10 SEC series and was 4-3 with a
4.67 ERA in 54 innings, notching 43 strikeouts. Johnson hit .330 in league play
with 12 runs, 12 RBI, 10 walks and five doubles.
During his rookie season in 2010, Johnson was
chosen as a Freshman All-American by Baseball America, Louisville Slugger,
NCBWA and Yahoo! Sports and he made the SEC’s All-Freshman Team as both a
starting pitcher and at designated hitter. Over 16 appearances on the mound,
including 14 starts, the left-hander was 6-4 with a 4.03 ERA and totaled 51
strikeouts in 73.2 innings. He was the Gators’ designated hitter in 27 games
and batted .405 (34-for-84) with 21 RBI, 13 runs, nine walks, five doubles, four
homers and two grand slams. The southpaw was 4-2 with a 3.00 ERA in nine league
starts and batted .362 (17-for-47) in 16 SEC contests.. He was named the SEC
Freshman of the Week on April 5 and again on May 3 and led the Orange and Blue
with a .500 (14-for-28) postseason average and hit .474 (9-for-19) with seven RBI
in five NCAA Tourney games. Johnson was tabbed as the Most Outstanding Player
of the NCAA Gainesville Regional after going 5-for-8 (.625) at the plate and
twirling seven shutout innings in the championship game. He Went 3-for-5 with a
leadoff homer in the third inning against Florida Atlantic and limited the Owls
to six hits in seven shutout innings.
