BRADENTON, Fla. -- On the day he was reassigned to minor league camp by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Termarr Johnson spent the morning talking about the offseason steps he took to get closer to the majors.
Johnson enjoyed an extended season that started with playing in the Arizona Fall League and ended with the 2022 first-round pick (No. 4 overall) starring for Team USA in the WSBC Premier12.
"It was pretty cool to get the experience," Johnson said. "I've known all along that I could hit the highest level of pitching. I've always been a competitive player. It was good just to show that I'm able to get some good (at-bats) and get some playing time, so I'm happy about that."
Billed as the best prep hitter in a generation coming out Atlanta's Mays High School, the 5-foot-9, 190-pounder hasn't hit in the minors quite as anticipated. His ranking slipped from No. 26 in 2023 to No. 44 last year to No. 83 this year in MLB Pipeline's top 100 prospects.
Johnson, who bats left-handed and splits time between second base and shortstop, had a .238/.374/.385 slash line with 17 doubles, 13 home runs and 46 RBIs in 110 games at High-A Greensboro before hitting .229 in 14 games after he was promoted to Double-A Altoona in late August.
Drawing more walks (14) than strikeouts (11) and posting a .444 on-base percentage and .919 OPS in 11 games for Scottsdale in the Arizona Fall League helped Johnson get ready for the WSBC Premier12, a tournament involving the national teams from a dozen countries.
"I was first grateful to the organization for the opportunity to play extra baseball," Johnson said. "Obviously, it was a little bit of preparing for everything I was going to do with Team USA and what I'm doing with the organization, so it was good from a standpoint of getting some more games under my belt to prepare for playing for my country, playing for all of you guys."
The 20-year-old Johnson was the youngest player on Team USA, which featured 44-year-old former Pirates left-hander Rich Hill as a starting pitcher. But Johnson served as a catalyst by batting .385/.529/.615, including a two-run home run in a 12-2 win over Mexico to advance out of the group stage and into the Super Round.
When Team USA faced Japan, Johnson played in front of the biggest crowd of his career as 25,000 packed the Tokyo Dome. Johnson finished the tournament 9 for 29 (.310), with a .414 OBP and .843 OPS as the Americans finished third.
"That's a big jump from the minors," Johnson said. "It was a playoff atmosphere, playing for your country and against a whole country. I think I took a lot of good things from that. I felt like I got ahead from that standpoint."
Johnson didn't get much of a chance at big-league camp, where he batted .143 (1 for 7) with an RBI in four Grapefruit League games. But taking grounders and batting practice with major leaguers like Adam Frazier and Nick Gonzales every day allowed Johnson to pick up practice habits.
And Johnson took his 18-year-old locker mate, 2024 first-round pick Konnor Griffin, under his wing at Pirate City in an effort to build a bond with another top prospect considered a future star for the Pirates.
"I'm in a very much better spot, as far as experience goes," Johnson said. "I already know that the stick is going to swing, that I'm going to play defense and I'm always going to have that winning mentality every single day. I'm just trying to continue that and make sure I do my job every single day so that when that time comes in Pittsburgh, I'm doing everything to win. I'm going to forever learn, as long as I'm in this game. I'm trying to have open ears and make sure I do my part because when my time comes, I've got to be ready to help the team win."