It didn't happen this season, but Steve Johnson believes his time in the major leagues will come in the future.
The Double-A Bowie Baysox starting pitcher was selected in the Rule 5 draft by the San Francisco Giants, but he was returned to the Orioles during spring training.
"I've always had confidence. I feel like I could pitch [in the major leagues]," Johnson said at the Baysox media day this week. "I had a lot of people telling me I wasn't ready, and that's understandable. I did only pitch a couple of games in Double-A [last season], but I felt like I could handle the experience."
Baysox manager Brad Komminsk agrees with Johnson's assessment and believes the 22-year-old right-hander has good fortune ahead of him.
"It's really hard for a guy to go from [Single-]A to Double-A and to make a big league team," Komminsk said. "You have to have the right situation where they can afford to carry a guy, but he's going to be a big leaguer. It's just a matter of time more than anything. I'm glad to have him back."
Johnson, who is scheduled to make his season debut in tonight's second game against the Richmond Flying Squirrels, tried to learn as much as possible during his stint with the Giants."It's not something you get to do every day, hanging out with [Tim] Lincecum, [Barry] Zito and [Matt] Cain, guys like that," Johnson said. "It was definitely something that I wasn't expecting at the end of last season.
"I got to hang out with them and see how they go about their business," he added.
Johnson posted a 3-2 record and 2.84 ERA in seven starts after being acquired by the Orioles along with third baseman Josh Bell in a trade that sent closer George Sherrill to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Despite a solid performance in 2009, Johnson knows he needs to improve in order to strengthen his goal of sticking on a major-league roster in the future.
"I want to cut down the walks and cut down the pitches, get longer into games," Johnson said. "I threw into the fifth inning and that was it a lot of the time last year, so I want to get into the sixth, seventh and eighth. Hopefully, I'll get a couple complete games in there."
Ironically, Johnson's first start of the 2010 season will come against the Giants' affiliate in the Eastern League. He is familiar with several players and hopes to make a strong impression.
"A lot of those guys were in big league camp with me getting the [spring training]-invitee experience," Johnson said. "I know a lot of their team, so it's going to be nice seeing those guys and pitching against them."