FSU great Sherman Johnson reflects on journey back to big leagues ... now as a coach

Sherman Johnson was a three-year starting infielder for FSU Baseball from 2010-2012. He posted a career .298 batting average and earned the Rawlings Gold Glove award following his senior season.

After an 11-year professional career, which saw him enjoy a short stint in Major League Baseball with the Angels in 2018, Johnson embarked on his coaching career in 2023 with the Baltimore Orioles’ minor-league organization.

Two years later, when Baltimore squares off this afternoon against the Toronto Blue Jays on Opening Day 2025, Johnson will be back in the bigs. This will mark his first game as the Orioles’ Assistant Hitting Coach/Upper Level Hitting Coordinator.

In a wide-ranging interview with Warchant managing editor Ira Schoffel, the former FSU star reflects on his journey through the minor leagues, finally making it to the majors, sharing a clubhouse with superstars like Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, finishing his career in independent ball, getting his start in professional coaching, and now coaching in the major leagues.

This is Part 1 of that interview. In Part 2, he will discuss the evolution of his philosophy on hitting, what it has been like working with one of the most talented lineups in baseball, and looking back fondly on his time at FSU.

WARCHANT: So, all FSU fans know your story from your time at Florida State and all the success you had as a player. But probably fewer were able to follow your minor-league career and know that you made it up to the major leagues for a little while with the Angels. What was the pro baseball experience like for you?

JOHNSON: I guess I’ll just start at the beginning — just the experience of getting drafted at all is awesome. I was actually with Devon Travis when we both got drafted a round apart. And it was just great. You don’t really know what’s going to happen next. You know you get to play baseball, which is really fun. But you don’t know where you’ll be, which for me, I ended up going out to Orem, Utah. So, straight from the College World Series to Orem, Utah. it was the first time I had really seen mountains. So that was a little bit of a culture shock for me. But it was really good, man.

You get to play with a bunch of guys that are from everywhere. And then I have a lot of different experiences. And you get to see like, oh my gosh, there are a lot of really good baseball players out there. So, yeah, I work my way up to the big leagues. It was a blast. I mean, I tell everybody: The big leagues is the best. I wasn’t there long, but it is literally the best. Every day, it feels like you’re in Disney World. It was really fun. And I got to play with some really good guys. It was [Shohei] Ohtani’s rookie year that year, so I got to play with him. I got to play with [Mike] Trout. I got to play with [Albert] Pujols, Justin Upton, Andrelton Simmons, Kole Calhoun. So, just to be in the room and listen to these guys talk about the game of baseball, and obviously watch how they go about their work was, I mean, it was priceless. I can’t put another word on it, other than that.

WARCHANT: When you talk about being in the clubhouse and seeing Ohtani, Trout and some of those guys … some of them are just physical specimens and super talented. But there are a ton of talented guys who don’t make it to the bigs. While you were there, did you try to get a sense of what separates them from everybody else? Because there are so many great players who don’t for whatever reason.

JOHNSON: I would say it’s a blend. And I would say the experience for me was kind of eerie, right? Like, getting up there, everybody knew who the top dogs were. Everybody knew who belonged up in the big leagues. And if you were newer, it was kind of like you stuck out like a sore thumb. It was just like a mutual respect for like the [Alex] Bregmans and the [Jose] Altuves and the [Carlos] Correas and the Trouts. Everybody just kind of knew. So when you get up there, you kind of change your definition of what a great baseball player is. Because that’s like the ultimate level.

So, if I’m going to say somebody’s great at baseball, now I’m comparing it to a major-leaguer. So while I thought I was pretty good at baseball — yeah, I was probably pretty good, you know, in high school and college and even in pro ball, even in the minor leagues at times — you get to the big leagues, and it’s like, “Man, the great players are the All-Stars, the superstar players and the Hall-of-Famers.” So yeah, it takes a lot to be one of those guys. Like, I would say there’s some natural God-given abilities. But they also work, man. And they’ve worked a long time to be able to hone their craft.

WARCHANT: So when you made it to the big leagues with the Angels in 2018, you stayed up for a little while before going back down. Then you went to Triple-A with the Reds. At that point, were you thinking you would get back up? Or were you just playing baseball because you loved it?

JOHNSON: When I got up there, obviously, you want to play in the big leagues for as long as you can. But once I got up there, I think I only played 10 games. I was up there for like 14, 15 days, maybe. But I remember, I was just like, “OK, all this work, all of the dedication, all the time that my parents spent at baseball fields and batting cages, like, it was worth it.” So, it’s not that I didn’t want to keep playing in the big leagues. I certainly did, and the competitiveness was still there. But there was like a calm about it. It was just like, “Well, you know, if this is the end, which it wasn’t, but if this was the end, I would be fine. Because I played in the big leagues.” I was fortunate enough to get a free-agent job with the Reds. Spent the next year there in 2019. And then in 2020, again, I got a free-agent job with the Pirates. But that season got washed out [by the COVID-19 pandemic], so I didn’t play at all.

And then in 2021, I hooked up with the Twins literally after Spring Training because somebody got hurt. So I got some other opportunities to make money, which was great, and I was playing the game that I love to play. And if everything happened just right and I was playing well, maybe I’d get a chance to go back to the big leagues. But by no means was I like, “Oh, I’m definitely gonna go back.” It just wasn’t realistic at my age. And I knew I wanted to be in a front office or coaching when I was done. I did not know how I was going to go about that, but I knew. So I was already looking at, “OK, I’m 29 years old, I’m 30 years old. It’s gonna be hard for me to get back to the big leagues and actually carve out a role and play.” It’s just very difficult to do. So, I wasn’t really lobbying to be a coach or in the front office, but I was certainly asking questions about it. And then in 2021, I developed a relationship with our hitting coach in Triple-A, Matt Borgschulte.

We never talked about what was next for me. We just kind of talked about hitting, and we got along really well. And the next year, 2022, I was like, I want to keep playing, and I told my family that. I ended up going to “Indy” (independent) ball because I didn’t get any offers to affiliated ball. And once I was in Indy ball, I was like, “You know what? If I don’t get picked up, I’m just gonna have fun. I’m gonna make sure I get all of this playing experience.” Because I would hate to go into a front office or a coaching role and think I could still play or want to still play. I wanted to make sure I got it all out — got all the fun out, and I did. I remember getting to June that year, and I was like, “OK, I’m good.” Like, I’m obviously not gonna quit. I’m gonna finish the season, because that’s what I signed to do. That’s how I was raised. But I knew this would be my last year.

WARCHANT: And then you immediately got into coaching?

JOHNSON: I actually didn’t tell anybody at that point that I was done. The only people I told were my family. We ended up making a run that season, and then we lost in the playoffs. The next day, I get a call from Matt Blood, who was then our (the Baltimore Orioles’) director of player development. He’s since been promoted, but that was his role at the time. And he texted me first and was like, “Can I give you a call?” And I was like, “Man, I don’t know this guy. And I hope he doesn’t want me to keep playing. I’m done. Like, my body hurts. I’m done.” Ended up getting on the phone with him at the airport right then and there, the day after my season, and he’s like, “I got your name from Matt Borgschulte.” And I was like, “Oh man, Borgs, that’s crazy. I hadn’t spoken to him in a year. We hadn’t even spoken.” And he goes, “Yeah, well, he said you might be interested in coaching.” And I said, “Man, this is crazy, because I literally just got done with my season yesterday, and I had no idea how I was gonna get into what I believed was next.”

So we spoke for a little bit, and I was actually going to go down and interview for the O’s that next week. But a hurricane came and hit, so they all evacuated and I couldn’t go down there and meet. So I was kind of bummed about that. I was like, “Man, that was a great opportunity.” And then the next week, he texted and was like, “We want to fly you up to Baltimore.” So I flew up that Tuesday, which was a couple days after that. Got to meet everybody. Mike Elias (the Orioles’ general manager and executive vice president) was there. He was like, “I remember watching you play in college.” I was like, “Oh, wow.” Sig (Mejdal, Baltimore’s assistant GM) was there. Blood obviously was there. Anthony Villa, Cody Asche was there. And I just got to meet everybody. We kind of chopped it up. They asked me what I believed in and what I thought about this, what I thought about that, which was really cool.

We went out to dinner. The interview process was really cool with Baltimore. They did a really good job, in my opinion. And then the next week, I was going to like an MLB diversity pipeline thing for coaches and scouts. Tyrone Brooks, shout out to him, and Bobby Scales and Bo Porter hooked me up with that. So I was in that program … and one of the guys that was coaching there, Nic Wilson, was with the Rockies. And I didn’t know Nic, but we have a lot of mutual friends. So we were chopping it up, and he was just like, “Hey man, you just got done playing. What do you think about hitting? What do you think about how people train? How would you train? How would you go about this? How would you game-plan?” And I just started kind of telling him. I’m not very shy (laughing), as you might know. So I just started telling him.

And as I’m telling him, a lot of the [Tampa Bay] Rays’ brass was in the room. I guess they had filtered in the room, and they were listening. I didn’t really notice until I looked up. But after that, the Rays called. And they were saying a lot of the same things as Baltimore. So we spoke, and I spoke to literally everybody — I spoke to a lot of their front office guys, I spoke to their hitting coordinator, I spoke to their field coordinator who is now in the big leagues, even their GM reached out. So I had spoken to two GMs in a week (laughing), which was nuts. I had never really spoken to a GM before in my life. But the Rays were also really cool. I ended up going with Baltimore. They had offered, and I agreed, and I wanted to keep my word. I think there are really good people in both orgs, but I obviously love Baltimore. The people I work with are great. I love the players that I work with. And what we have going on is special.

It all happened really quick. I remember telling my mom, “I didn’t think it was gonna happen this quick.” And she was obviously really excited. But yeah, that’s how it went. That’s how I got into coaching. Went straight to Double-A in 2023.

Check back with Warchant.com for the final part of this interview.

*Sign up for premium access to Warchant.com and the On3 Network*

*Talk about this story with other die-hard Florida State baseball fans in the FSU Baseball Forum*