VA/DC Scout Blog: Kyle Johnson's No-No

Kyle Johnson OF / Riverside, VA / 2023

This was my first time seeing the Duke commit this spring, and only my third time in the past three years seeing Johnson in game. The Riverside star came out hot and locked in from the first pitch. For the first two innings he was 90-93 and touched 94 with a fastball that had an extra gear that night. He was competing in the zone, as well as expanding late and getting chases. In the third inning he seemed to have lost his edge and energy a bit. The fastball was more scattered and sat 90-91 mph. He worked his way out of it and was never really in any trouble, but just wasn't as crisp as he had been. In the bottom of the third, the Rams had a long inning and scored a ton of runs. That half inning alone was roughly thirty minutes long. With a combination of having kind of lost the edge and a long half inning afterward, it was setup for Johnson to fade in the velo department, as well as other areas. When games get less "competitive" due to the score, arms tend to not have the energy and go on cruise control. Johnson came out in the third, threw his slowest fastball of the night (89), but then took back off like a rocket ship. Next pitch 90 and the pitch after was 92 for a strikeout. After that, it was all she wrote. Twelve strikeouts and twenty-one swings and misses later, Johnson left this District Semifinal game with a complete game no hitter. The slider can be a bit softer in shape and velo at 73-76, but it is an above average high school pitch and was especially tough on left handers, which Woodgrove had a fair amount of. Johnson flashed a 81-83 mph changeup to some aggressive middle of the order guys. A few of those changeups were solid offerings, especially for a third pitch. Hard late sink and played well off of the fastball. Overall, it was a completely dominant performance for the Riverside starter and something to build off of going in to the regional playoffs.