Mark Johnson

Who is Mark Johnson?

Mark Landon Johnson is a former professional baseball player, a catcher who played with several major league teams, but primarily with the Chicago White Sox. In 2011, he retired as a player and became a minor league manager.

Standing at 6'0" and weighing 185 pounds, Johnson attended Warner Robins High School in Warner Robins, Georgia. Batting left-handed but throwing right-handed, Johnson was drafted by the Chicago White Sox 26th overall in the 1994 draft. The first two seasons of his professional career were nothing near stellar-in 1994, he hit only .241 in 32 games, and in 1995, he hit .182 in 107 games.

1996 saw a slight improvement, at least while in Single-A. He hit .257 in 67 games there, but in Single-A Advanced ball that year, he hit only .241.

Great at drawing walks, he walked 106 times and struck out only 85 times in 1997, but he still only hit .252. In 1998, he had a career year in the minors, batting .283 with 105 walks and only 72 strikeouts. That prompted his promotion, and on September 14, 1998, at the age of 22, he made his big league debut. He went 0-for-1 at the plate. The rest of his season was not impressive, either-overall, he collected only two hits in 23 at bats, for a .087 batting average. He made the best out of his two hits, though-they were both triples. His first one came off Pedro Martínez on September 19, and his second came off Scott Service on September 25.