First baseman Nick Johnson was a solid player and on-base machine for the early Nationals. Sadly, he doesn’t get the recognition his statstics warrant.
His career was curtailed by a number of serious injuries, one of which — a catastrophic on-the-field collision with Austin Kearns on Sept. 23, 2006 — fractured a leg and cost him the entire 2007 season. Another — one of several serious hand and wrist in the majors — forced him to miss all but the first 38 games in 2008.
In the minors, he had missed the entire 2000 season with an earlier wrist injury. With the Yankees in 2003, he missed two months with hand fracture. With Montreal in August 2004, a bad bounce on a grounder broke his cheekbone, ending his season.
Despite those injuries, Johnson’s .399 career OBP over 10 years with four teams ranks 17th among players in the divisional era (since 1969) with more than 3,000 plate appearances. Of the 16 ahead of him, nine are Hall of Famers, two would be except for steroids (Barry Bonds and Manny Ramirez), three are certain inductees once they retire (Aaron Judge, Mike Trout and Juan Soto). The two others might arguably make it one day (Joey Votto and Lance Berkman).
With Washington — excluding his time with the Expos before the franchise move — Johnson hit .286 with an outstanding on-base percentage of .418, second only to Soto’s .427 in Nationals’ history. During the three-plus seasons he was able to stay on the field, Johnson walked 286 times while striking out just 277 times in 2,041 plate appearances with the Nationals.
Although he never made an all-star team, his OBP was .420 or higher three times during his career. Notably, he drove in the first run scored at Nationals Park when it opened in 2008.
A left-handed batter, Johnson hit .288 lifetime against lefties. In his three seasons when he managed to play regularly for the Nats, he hit .328, .303 and .316 against southpaws. Try to find another lefty vs. lefty with those numbers. He hung in there, which no doubt contributed to his wrist injuries. He was hit by 35 pitches as a National, ranking in the top 10 in the league in 2005, ’06 and ’09.
In 2006, his 43 doubles and 23 homers gave him a .520 slugging percentage (.948 OPS) and a bWAR of 5.0. That season was played at the old D.C./RFK stadium, a park whose deep fences clearly favored pitchers.
Just ahead of Johnson are Jim Thome (.402), Rickey Henderson and Chipper Jones (both .401), all Hall of Fame inductees. The list:
Barry Bonds — .444 OBP Frank Thomas — .419 Edgar Martínez — .418
Juan Soto (active) — .415 Wade Boggs — .415 Todd Helton — .414
Manny Ramirez — .411 Aaron Judge (active) — .413 Joey Votto — .409
Jeff Bagwell — .408 Lance Berkman — .406 Mike Trout (active) — .407
Jim Thome — .402 Rickey Henderson — .401 Chipper Jones — .401
Larry Walker — .400 (Johnson – .399)
Everybody on that list is well known to most baseball fans, other than Nick Johnson.
After he spent a year rehabing at AAA, he made the Orioles roster in 2012’s spring training. His wrist did not hold up, however, as yet another hand injury disabled him after 38 games. He retired after the season. Had he not made that aborted comeback, he would have ended his MLB career in 2010 at an even .400 on-base percentage.
Obviously, Johnson’s career does not merit Hall-of-Fame consideration, but his ability to get on base ranks with the game’s best.
