Washington Nationals: Interview with pitching prospect Kyle Johnston

District on Deck spoke to Washington Nationals pitching prospect Kyle Johnston about his draft experience, his first full pro season, and his playoff start.

In this special edition of the DoDCast, Site Expert Blake Finney got the chance to speak to Washington Nationals minor leaguer Kyle Johnston.

Johnston was drafted in the sixth round by the Nationals out of the University of Texas in 2017. He started the 2018 season with the Hagerstown Suns before a mid-season promotion to the Potomac Nationals.

With this year being his first full season in professional baseball, he spoke about the adjustments he made in 2018 compared to his college days in Texas:

"“It was really just the amount of throwing between each start. Usually, when you have that routine in college, guys are long tossing a lot more, and there’s more days off, with that different schedule of playing every day. Then there’s the workload of throwing and your bullpens start decreasing as you’re more working on quality more than quantity of pitches and different mechanical stuff.”"

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Playing full-season baseball has allowed Johnson to refine his craft even more than before. The right-hander talked about the development of one of his secondary pitches as one of his biggest improvements throughout the season.

"“I think throughout the season I was able to work on my changeup a lot with the pitching coaches, Tim Redding and Sam Narron. So that definitely got a lot better as the season went on and was able to use it a lot more in different counts to different batters.”"

One the noticeable strides he made on the stat sheet was being able to throw more strikes consistently and improve his K/BB ratio. He raised it from 1.39 the previous year, all the way up 1.81 this past season. Johnston attributed this to being able to focus on one spot more than the zone in general.

"“I simplified the wind-up a little bit and aiming more towards a center target rather than trying to hit such a big zone and missing wide. I think it just an aim small, miss small idea and definitely beneificial to that and using my stuff is a more aggressive idea instead of trying to give hitters too much credit. Once I got that first-pitch strike over the plate, it was a little easier to pitch to hitters.”"

Nationals player development director Mark Scialabba echoed those sentiments in a recent MLB.com article, talking about Johnston’s impressive and aggressive presence when pitching.

"“[Kyle] attacks the strike zone and is very aggressive, with a bulldog-type presence on the mound,” Scialabba said. “He improved his confidence, threw more strikes this year, stayed within his delivery and had more success with it.”"

You can check out the full interview with Kyle Johnston on Spreaker where he talks about his playoff appearance with the Potomac Nationals, and whether he goes for the window or aisle seat on a road trip.

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We want to say thanks again to Kyle Johnston for taking the time to join us on the podcast. Make sure you follow him on Twitter @kylejohnston834 and check on his progress as he moves up the Nationals system.