Ivan Johnson Found Value In Versatility
It was Friday night, April 24 in Des Moines, Iowa, and Ivan Johnson was tasked with patrolling left field. A natural middle infielder, Johnson has learned to play most positions on a baseball field. He has adopted an invaluable role in the modern game: utility man. The Bats had their
It was Friday night, April 24 in Des Moines, Iowa, and Ivan Johnson was tasked with patrolling left field. A natural middle infielder, Johnson has learned to play most positions on a baseball field. He has adopted an invaluable role in the modern game: utility man.
The Bats had their backs against the wall, facing a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the 10th inning of a tie game with only one out. A well-hit ball, even if it were an out, would likely end the game. Desperate times called for desperate measures, so manager Pat Kelly called for a fifth infielder, summoning Johnson from left to play up the middle between second base and shortstop.
“When they told me to come into the infield, I thought I was pitching,” Johnson said with a laugh.
The confusion was warranted. Rarely does this strategy get implemented; far less often does it work in the defensive team’s favor.
On the second pitch of the at-bat, the ball was hit on a hop directly to the once vacant spot on the diamond. Johnson charged and threw home, forcing out the winning run. The Bats’ catcher, Dayne Leonard, then made a heads-up play to turn the double play at first base, forcing an 11th inning.
It all happened in an instant, but Johnson’s defensive capabilities have been a point of emphasis since being drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the fourth round of the 2019 MLB first-year player draft.
“I’ve come to learn that even if I’m not playing second base for four or five games, I still have to get that work in,” Johnson said. “Anything can happen, and if you end up there, you don’t want to feel like you’re out of your depths.”
Versatility is nothing new for Johnson, who has been a switch-hitter since he was 12. A natural right-handed bat, he began hitting from both sides of the plate at the encouragement of his dad, citing his Atlanta roots and one of baseball’s best switch hitters, Chipper Jones, as inspiration for the change.
With eight home runs in 33 games, Johnson has already passed his 2025 total of seven in 58 games. On April 14 against Toledo, he became only the third player in franchise history to homer from both sides of the plate in a single game as part of the Bats' record-setting rout of Toledo. Before Johnson, Elly De La Cruz was the most recent Bat to accomplish this feat on May 9, 2023.
According to Johnson, the Bats locker room often refers to homering from both sides of the plate as a, “Elly De La Cruz Game,” named after the switch-hitting Reds superstar. And as it happens, Johnson was the first of three Bats this season to accomplish the feat. Michael Toglia did so on April 22 and Edwin Arroyo became the third player to record a “Elly De La Cruz Game” on May 8 against Nashville.
Johnson classifies his relationship with switch-hitting as love-hate, jokingly sharing, “I tell people that’s why I don’t golf yet, I don’t have the mental capacity for another swing.”
The additional work is evident, though, as Johnson is off to one of the best starts of his professional career, posting a .912 OPS, seven stolen bases, and 19 runs scored through his first 31 games.
A self-proclaimed slow starter, Johnson may have benefited from playing in the World Baseball Classic for Team Great Britain this past March. An experience that came about because of his mother’s lineage from the British Virgin Islands.
In the tournament, Johnson made a highlight reel catch while defending third base in a game against Team USA and cited the opportunity to compete with and against the world’s best, namely a teammate in Jazz Chisholm, as one of many blessings that arose from the experience.
The early-season impact Johnson is having is not lost on the Bats skipper, “I think his overall game has gotten better,” Kelly said. “The ability to play multiple positions is valuable in this game. He realizes that he’s got to improve his defense to play in the big leagues, and he’s worked extremely hard at that. He’s always been able to swing the bat, and now he’s getting the chance to show it.”
Back in left field for the bottom of the 11th in Iowa, the Bats were now defending a one-run lead, resulting from a Michael Chavis RBI single that scored Johnson from second.
Now, two outs away from the unlikeliest of victories, there was more work to be done.
With the tying run on second, a base hit looped its way into left and threatened to even the score. Johnson sprinted to his right, collected the ball, and fired home to throw out the runner. In as many innings, he had thrown out two runners from two separate positions on the field and scored the eventual game-winning run.
ICYMI: Ivan Johnson saved the game twice in extra innings, moving in from left field to start a double play as the fifth infielder in the 10th then throwing out the tying run from the outfield in the 11th. 👏 #MadeInLou pic.twitter.com/0QWJEZqelL
— Louisville Bats (@LouisvilleBats) April 25, 2026
“That was this crazy roller coaster of emotions, because after seeing (Johnson) throw that ball short, you know, that’s fresh in your mind, and then he throws a hose from left field, just a perfect one hop,” Bats coach Vince Harrison recalled fondly. “It was just one of those moments where you get caught up in the emotion of the play.”
Asked how he has grown as a player throughout his seven minor league seasons, Johnson referenced patience.
“It takes a while to kind of figure out who you are as a player,” he said, reflecting on his evolution from Single-A ball to the Triple-A ranks. “Year to year, just continuing to grow mentally, deal with failures, don’t let it ruin your day and ruin who you are off the field.”
Johnson is sharing similar lessons with youth baseball players from around the country. Last year, he and now-former Bats teammate, Rece Hinds, began the Roots to Home Baseball Project, an initiative meant to provide young athletes from underserved communities with high-quality baseball instruction. Further, the clinic and related events emphasize life skills coaching and mentorship.
“This game is everything, and it's nothing,” Johnson said, explaining the importance of perspective in a baseball life. “Without it, so many of us wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to go to college, and we wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to make the money that’s obviously helped our families, but at the same time, we’re not going to play this game forever. It’s such a short period of our lives.”
On the field, Johnson continues to be a difference maker for one of the International League’s best teams. He is a key contributor to a Bats franchise seeking its first postseason berth since 2010.
Above all else, that is how he chooses to measure success.
“The results are always tricky,” Johnson said when asked about how he approaches a new season. “I mean, we are in a results-based game, obviously, but it’s one of those things where, as long as I feel like I’m showing up the right way to the field every day, my attitude is in the right place, I can be a consistent teammate, regardless of the result. I feel like that all kind of pans out.”
Now, nearly 500 games into his minor league career, Johnson has grown from a fiery 20-year-old to an even-keeled veteran. The game has dealt its fair share of lumps and bruises. No baseball player is immune to hardship.
It’s all about what happens next.
“I showed up, I had a smile on my face, I was bouncing around, and however that shows up in the stat column, at the end of the day, is how it shows up.”