Round 11 | Coco Johnson | OF | Louisville | SIGNED

[tjfla]

Discuss

[MiamiHomer]

Saw him when the Canes played Louisville in the regionals. He's a strong dude.

[emkayseven]

5'11" 205

Coco Johnson found a rhythm that has made it easier for the Louisville outfielder to clean up at the plate.

In 33 games batting fourth for the Cardinals (49-12), Johnson is hitting .361 with six home runs and 35 runs batted in. He ranks second on the team in the latter two categories with eight and 50 respectively.

Johnson's place in the lineup between Ty Young and Jeff Gardner has given the Cardinals a strong 3-4-5 combination that helped them close the regular season with a 16-game winning streak.

That set the stage for Johnson's breakout in last week's NCAA regional, where he earned most outstanding player honors after going 5 for 11 with two homers, six RBI and a .455 average.

"Early in the season, I was very jumpy and jumping at the ball," said Johnson, Louisville's third-leading hitter at .322. "Now, I don't move my head as much. I'm quiet now, so the ball travels longer and I see it longer. That's what helped out a lot going into the postseason."

Louisville went on to a regional sweep of Bowling Green, Miami (Fla.) and Oklahoma State that put the Cardinals into this weekend's best-of-three super regional against No. 2 seed Vanderbilt in Nashville. At stake is a berth in the College World Series, which Louisville last reached in 2007.

For the Cardinals, that will mean getting past Commodores junior left-hander Kevin Ziomek (11-2, 1.92 ERA) on Saturday and sophomore right-hander Tyler Beede (14-0, 2.20) on Sunday. Louisville counters with right-handers Chad Green (10-3, 2.22) and ace Jeff Thompson (10-1, 2.06), aiming to help the Cardinals avenge a 10-2 loss to Vanderbilt in April.

That marked the last regular-season defeat for the Cardinals, who went on to post the school's second-longest winning streak before back-to-back losses in the Big East Conference tournament. Louisville quickly rebounded as NCAA regional hosts, outscoring opponents 26-10.

Though the Cardinals insist that it didn't matter who they'd play in the next round, facing the Commodores again has provided a bit more motivation. After all, they're just 4-22 all-time against Vanderbilt,.

"They definitely put it to us last time, but anybody's beatable," said Young, Louisville's top hitter (.349) and run-producer (57 RBI).
"If we come out and play how we can, it doesn't matter who we're playing. ... We had a team meeting after Vandy and discussed what we needed to do, it worked and we've played great baseball from then on."

Johnson meanwhile is playing his best baseball when it matters most, a quest that has brought sudden celebrity for the 5-foot-11, 205-pounder.

Hitting two homers will do that, leading to a standing ovation when Johnson came up for his third at-bat against Bowling Green last Friday. He delivered an infield single, part of a four-run fifth inning that broke the game open as Louisville won 8-3.

"My Twitter's getting blown up a little bit," Johnson said of the subsequent popularity boost. "It's cool, it's exciting, it's fun. When I got the standing ovation in my third at-bat, I got goose bumps."

What's notable about Johnson's effort was how he sandwiched the homers around a 25-minute rain delay, one sign that he's more focused since the season started. He followed by going 2-for-4 in the clinching win over Oklahoma State and became the first Cardinal to be named regional MOP since Justin Marks four years ago.

Louisville coach Dan McDonnell expected this kind of production from the Benton Harbor, Mich., native after he transferred from Central Arizona College. But it took moving Johnson down a spot in the order early in the season and withstanding a two-week absence in March with an oblique muscle strain injury before he was able to show his skills.

Johnson returned with a 4-for-6 series against Notre Dame to go over .300 for good and provide a right-handed bat in Louisville's lefty-laden lineup including Young and Gardner — who's hitting .340 with a team-best nine homers and 43 RBI.

"He struggled a little bit early on," McDonnell said of Johnson, "but he began to put it together in the Alabama weekend" when he went 2-for-5 with a homer in the series finale.

"That was kind of a breakout weekend for him. ... It seemed to click when Gardner settled in as the DH and we moved Coco to the 4 spot, and our lineup seemed to take off after that."

Johnson hasn't fallen below .300 since midseason. And with 17 walks and 20 hit-by-pitches, he's also showing patience.
He is trying to do everything he can to help Louisville return to the College World Series. Just two years after helping Central Arizona reach the junior college final, he wants another shot at a championship.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/a...#ixzz2VeQkd8V6

[Fritz]

Team Coco.

[emkayseven]

The first Kentucky player selected on the third and final day of the MLB draft was University of Louisville junior outfielder Coco Johnson, who the Marlins took with the 322nd pick.

Johnson, a junior-college transfer, batted .322 with eight home runs, 50 RBI and 40 runs scored in 53 games. He stole 21 bases in 30 attempts. Baseball America rated Johnson as the 464th best prospect in the draft.

http://www.kyforward.com/our-sports/...three-roundup/

we overdrafted by 142 slots

[Jay]

Cause it really makes a difference.

I had an idea the other day of taking an entire draft class and running some statistics 5 years later and 10 years later. I don't currently have the time to take on something like this right now though.

[emkayseven]

I was joking

[emkayseven]

Per Jim Callis:

@jimcallisBA: #Marlins sign 11th-rder Coco Johnson for $100k. Louisville OF, VG speed (6.37 in 60), avg power, came on w/bat in second half. #mlbdraft

[Mainge]

Woah speed