The Royals drafted Joel Johnston in the 3rd round of the 1988 June Amateur Draft out of Penn State University. A 6-5 hard throwing righty, Johnston made his Big League debut with KC in September of ’91, finishing with an ERA of 0.40 in 22.1 innings. Heading into 1992, Baseball America called Johnston KC’s top prospect and as such, at the end of that season, he was the key cog in the trade to Pittsburgh that brought back the Royals Jose “Chico” Lind. Johnston would go on to pitch for both the Pirates and Red Sox in a career that spanned five seasons at the MLB level. Joel recently joined Dave O to talk about how the Royals discovered him, coming up through the KC system, the trade to Pittsburgh, an absolutely classic Bo Jackson story and much more! (Photo Courtesy Kansas City Royals)
Was one of my all time favorite Royals. When he came back to Omaha with Buffalo I’d sit down by their bullpen and talk to him and Mandy Romero. Got a ball from both of them every time they would come into town. Great memories!