Getting cut in high school didn't deter Bravehearts left-handed reliever Axel Johnson

WESTFIELD — The Bravehearts signed Axel Johnson to a 10-day contract to fill an early-season void in the bullpen while waiting for numerous pitchers to arrive in Worcester from their college communities.

The 6-foot, 215-pound lefty from Grafton quickly opened eyes in the organization with his shutdown stuff, and on June 4, manager Alex Dion informed Johnson the Bravehearts were going to keep him on for the duration of the four-month, Futures League season.

“I was super hyped,” Johnson said here last week before throwing three scoreless innings in a win over the Starfires, part of a demanding stretch in which the Bravehearts are scheduled to play 12 of 14 games on the road.

“He was so excited when we told him we were going to keep him for the summer,” manager Alex Dion said.

“It’s one of those stories you love to hear about, right? A kid who was cut from his high school team and worked really hard to make his college team, and now he’s getting an opportunity to do it here.”

Wait, what?

That’s right, Johnson, who graduated from St. John’s in 2020, was cut by the Pioneers as a junior and, because of COVID, never had the opportunity to try out as a senior. So while he suited up for the freshman and junior varsity teams, he never played an inning of varsity baseball.

“The competition was really high my junior year, and I obviously didn’t get a spot,” the affable Johnson said. “But honestly, it pushed me to prove to myself and other people that I could play college baseball. And that’s eventually what I ended up doing.”

Johnson played summer ball for the Waltham-based BBU Tigers and East Side American Legion entry prior to his senior season and with BBU and Evolution Baseball out of West Boylston prior to heading off to college.

As for college, he got recruited after attending a couple of showcases that he learned about while watching games at WPI and MIT.

The Division 3 trio of Bowdoin, MIT and Stevens Institute of Technology all sought the services of Stevens, an outstanding student who made the dean’s list every semester at St. John’s and graduated “top 10 or 15” in his class.

He settled on Stevens after not getting accepted to MIT (with its 6.7 percent acceptance rate).

“I love the location of the school,” Johnson said of Stevens, which is located in Hoboken, New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from Midtown Manhattan. “I didn’t think I’d like the city feel, but it’s really nice being in walking distance of everything.”

Johnson has continued to thrive academically, posting a 3.8 grade point average while majoring in chemical engineering.

As one might expect of a player lacking varsity experience, it’s been a slower transition athletically. And joining a team with an experienced staff has limited his workload to 12 appearances totaling 12 innings over his first two seasons.

“I think my freshman year in college was a little bit of a wake-up call in terms of practicing four days a week with three games,” Johnson said. “That was a bit of a turnaround. Then sophomore year solidified it.

“And now here, playing six games a week, it definitely keeps me locked in. I feel like I’m at the same level as everyone else now, and I’m competing and focused.”

Indeed.

Johnson entered Tuesday ranked second on the Bravehearts with 20 strikeouts despite checking in eighth in innings with 10⅔, spread over seven appearances. He had issued nine walks, but four were intentional, and posted a 2.53 earned run average while primarily facing left-handed batters.

His go-to-pitch is a slider. It’s complemented by a four-seam fastball that occasionally touches the upper-80s and sinks and tails away from righties, and a work-in-progress splitter.

“Every time he’s gone out there, he’s been excellent for us,” Dion said. “Second on the team in strikeouts right now. His stuff plays well against lefties and righties, which is awesome.

“We’ve used him in a bunch of different situations — long relief to close to get one or two outs if we needed him to. Just an awesome kid; works hard.”

And one who has shown he’ll make the most of any challenge he’s faced with or opportunity he’s presented with.

—Contact Rich Garven at rgarven@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @RichGarvenTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Getting cut in high school didn't deter Bravehearts left-handed reliever Axel Johnson