Yankees acquire former first round pick Cody Johnson

The Yankees have acquired Cody Johnson from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for cash. Johnson was the Braves first round pick out of high school in 2006, 24th overall. In 2006, he had a terrible pro debut, hitting just .184 with 6 doubles, 1 homer, 16 RBI, 2 SB, and a .260 OBP in 32 games at Rookie ball. He posted just a .933 OBP in the outfield with 0 assists (for some reason, no position in the outfield is specified on baseball-reference.com). Johnson was so bad that the Braves had to send him back to Rookie ball in '07. That season, he played very well offensively, hitting .305 with 18 doubles, 17 homers, 57 RBI, 7 SB, and a .374 OBP in 63 games. He posted just a .931 Fld% in left field, although he did post 5 oufield assists. Although he was at such a low level in the minors, Johnson still showed that he certainly had the first-round talent that the Braves had seen in him.

In '08, Johnson was promoted to Low-A (skipping Short Season-A), and he did pretty well, hitting just .252 in 127 games, with but with 26 doubles, 26 homers, 89 RBI, and 8 SB, although he posted just a .307 OBP. He even made strides defensively, posting a .946 Fld% while still posting 5 assists. The one problem for Johnson was strikeouts- he struck out 177 times, which would have led the AL in '10. Johnson struck out 180 times in '09, but had a better season, hitting .242 with 18 doubles, 32 homers, 87 RBI, 10 SB, and a vastly improved .345 OBP in 122 games at High-A. He was briefly promoted to Double-A, where he got just 4 hits in 22 AB for a .182 BA, but he made the most of them, driving in 3 runs. He also improved even more defensively, posting a .961 Fld% in 88 games in LF and 8 games in RF with 9 assists. He turned 21 in August of '09, and appeared to be not too far from the majors.

In '10, Johnson was promoted to Double-A. He hit just .189 with 6 doubles, 10 homers, 31 RBI, 9 SB, and a .269 OBP in 75 games. He was demoted briefly in July to Rookie ball in attempt to get his confidence back, but he hit just .250 with 2 homers and 4 RBI in 6 games. He closed the season out at High-A, hitting .264 with 4 doubles, 6 homers, 25 RBI, and a .333 OBP in 25 games. He also played worse defensively, posting a .945 Fld% with 6 assists.

The Yankees got Johnson for nothing but cash, so it's a very low-risk gamble. Johnson clearly has power- he has hit 66 homers the last 3 seasons. If he can post a league-average BA, he could be a good player, maybe Nick Swisher-esque, hitting 30 homers a season. If not, he can be compared to former Yankee Shelley Duncan. Duncan hit 19 homers per season from '06 to '09, his last 4 full seasons in the minors (that number increases to 21 homers per season if you add in 8 major league homers over those 4 seasons). What has he amounted to? Well, he hit .231 with 11 homers as a part-time player for Cleveland in '10. The good news for Johnson is that he's just 22. Unlike Duncan, he has some time to get himself together. If he can do that, he will be a good player.