Stephen Johnson

The draft's best college prospect outside of NCAA Division I, Johnson had middling success in two years as a starter at Division II St. Edward's. He rocketed up draft boards when he worked as a reliever last summer for the California Collegiate League's Santa Barbara Foresters and helped them win the National Baseball Congress World Series. Johnson's fastball sat at 94-96 mph last summer and has been even better this spring, hitting 98 mph and topping out at 101 mph. He has been much more dominant coming out of the bullpen, leading D-II with 16 regular-season saves while striking out 63 in 36 innings and limiting opponents to a .131 average and two extra-base hits. The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder pitches mostly off his fastball, which features some run and sink, and his hard slurve parks at 81-85 mph when it's on. Johnson has a funky arm action with a stab in the back, resulting in just decent command and perhaps limiting his realistic ceiling to set-up man rather than closer. Diagnosed with a partial elbow tear as a Colorado high school senior three years ago, Johnson eschewed surgery and hasn't had any health problems in college.