The Angels will break camp with righty Ryan Johnson on their big league roster, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. It’s a remarkable ascent to the majors for Johnson, a 2024 second-round pick who hasn’t pitched a single minor league inning. They won’t need to open a 40-man spot after releasing Mickey Moniak earlier today.
Johnson, who signed for a $1.74MM bonus last summer, pitched 11 1/3 innings during camp and allowed five runs on 11 hits and a walk with 10 punchouts — good for a 3.97 ERA. He’ll be the first player to skip the minor leagues entirely since Garrett Crochet, though Crochet’s rapid ascent came under different circumstances, as he was drafted and debuted in 2020 when there was no minor league season. Prior to Crochet, Mike Leake was the most recent player to skip the minors entirely.
The Angel are known for being the most aggressive team in the sport with promoting prospects. They typically focus on polished college players with their top picks, and Johnson is no exception. In 252 career innings at Dallas Baptist University, he posted a 3.46 ERA — including a 2.21 mark in 106 frames as a junior this past season. Baseball America ranked him seventh among Halos farmhands this year, noting that he had the potential to stick as a starter but could be a particularly quick-to-the-majors arm if moved to the bullpen. That’s indeed how it’ll play out, likely in faster fashion than anyone anticipated.
In recent years, the Angels have pushed Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel, Chase Silseth and Ben Joyce through the minors in a year’s time or less. They were reportedly weighing a late promotion of last year’s first-round pick, Christian Moore, and while they ultimately held off, it’s plausible — if not likely — that he could debut at some point in the first few month of the 2025 campaign.
Johnson is the latest and most extreme example of the Angels’ rush-to-the-majors gambit. He’ll join a bullpen anchored by offseason signee Kenley Jansen and the aforementioned Joyce — baseball’s hardest-throwing pitcher. Others in the Angels’ bullpen include righties Ryan Zeferjahn and Ian Anderson and lefties Brock Burke, Angel Perdomo and Reid Detmers.