Kris Johnson made his debut this past Saturday for the Spinners. He pitched 2 scoreless innings, giving up 1 hit and striking out 3. A nice way to start his professional career.

Kris Johnson appeared in his second game for the Spinners last night, and while he started, he only pitched two scoreless innings. Here's his line for the night:

Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Johnson 2.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0.00

Johnson, continuing with his 2-inning starts for Lowell, has posted a 0.51 ERA with 16 Ks in 17.2 IP.

Johnson's final numbers from his first pro season with Lowell:

[codebox]W L ERA G SV IP H R ER HR BB SO
0 2 0.88 14 13 30.2 25 7 3 0 7 27[/codebox]
The left-hander had a significant reverse split in his limited appearances, holding righties to a .197 average, while lefties hit .303 off of him.

BA ranked Johnson #5 overall in it's list of Top Twenty NYPL prospects. Linky.

Johnson is starting this year in the rotation of Boston's High-A affiliate, Lancaster, whose home ballpark has been very unkind to pitchers. In two starts, the 22-year-old lefthander has an 8.22 ERA, with 6 BBs and 3 Ks in 7.2 IP.

Johnson has struggled mightily with the hitter-friendly conditions in Lancaster and the California League. He was the starting pitcher in last Friday's 30-0 JetHawks loss (yes, 30-0) and overall his numbers are ugly.

In 9 starts, he has an 8.76 ERA. He's allowed 49 hits (including 7 HRs) and 25 BBs in just 38 innings, while striking out 29. Hitters are batting .318 against the southpaw.

Johnson may be slowly conquering the California League, as he's had a stellar June (1.96 ERA in 23 IP, with 13 Ks, 5 BBs and a 1.41 go/ao ratio). All of those numbers are a marked improvement from the thrashing he took in April and May.

Amalie Benjamin, Globe - Minor League Notebook: Johnson has been on learning curve

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Listen to Portland Sea Dogs pitcher Kris Johnson too much and, like the self-described goofy lefthander, you might find yourself uttering his ubiquitous expression: Believe it.

more stories like thisThere's no question Johnson believes he is entirely healed from all that ailed him last season - from his return from Tommy John surgery, which he underwent in 2005, to his disappointing experiences at Single A Lancaster. His curveball didn't return to form until near the end of last season, in which he went 9-7 with a 5.56 ERA.

"A lot of times you have a Tommy John, you don't know what the subconscious is telling you," said Portland pitching coach Mike Cather, who emphasized that Johnson has been coming on lately. "If you feel like, 'Oh, everybody knows the curveball gives you elbow problems,' maybe you're a little more tentative with that pitch. And if you're tentative with anything that you throw, it's going to be what we call a crippled pitch. I think that maybe the confidence in the pitch comes from the fact that he's not sore after he throws.