Termarr Johnson, who is one of the top prospects for the Pittsburgh Pirates, suffered a serious injury in his latest game for Triple-A Indianapolis against Iowa (Chicago Cubs) at Victory Field on Aug. 8.
The Pirates second base prospect hit a ground ball and tried to beat it out, but fell to the ground and immediately grabbed his left knee. It looked like he was trying to avoid the first baseman, and that resulted in an awkward fall which led to the injury. He had to get carted off the field, which is a horrible sign and an indicator that the injury could be serious.
Johnson was really struggling this season as he ranks as one of the worst-qualified hitters in the International League, tied for the second-worst fourth-worst batting average and sixth-worst OPS.
Johnson has slashed .199/.336/.319 for an OPS of .655 in 96 games, with 66 hits in 332 at-bats, 14 doubles, eight home runs, 37 RBI and 68 walks to 101 strikeouts.
However he has been better recently, slashing .225/.384/.393 for an OPS of .777 in June and .250/.375/.450 for an OPS of .825 in July, with seven of his eight home runs coming in those two months.
The Pirates took him fourth overall in the 2022 draft. The organization has been looking for him to fully find it, and he really hasn’t. It’s a scary injury though and comes at an awful time with around 36 games left in the season.
Johnson also hasn’t become the power guy that they were expecting with only 51 home runs in 467 games. Johnson is just 22 years old and still shows a lot of promise, so even though he doesn’t look MLB ready right now, he could be someone that the Pirates could look at and call up in the future.
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