"What round did you take him in?"

It's a question Rockies scout Damon Iannelli has heard from several friends who scout professional players and have seen high Single-A Modesto pitcher Alan Johnson.

He tuned up for the California League playoffs Thursday with six scoreless innings in Modesto's 3-0 win against Bakersfield, giving Johnson 14 scoreless innings in his past two starts and improving his record to 14-7 with a 2.99 ERA.

Johnson went to Mississippi State, a school in Iannelli's territory. So when friends doing professional coverage see Mississippi State in Johnson's background, they ask Iannelli the question: What round did you take him in?

"I didn't," Iannelli answers. "We signed him after the draft."

This was in 2005. Johnson finished his senior season at Mississippi State and "thought my baseball career was done" after no team chose him in the draft. He's from Birmingham and was on his way there "to get a truck so I could go get my stuff out of the apartment and move back home for the summer."

A day later, Iannelli called. Instead of moving back home for the summer, Johnson was soon headed to Rookie Casper. He received a $1,000 bonus, par for the course for an undrafted college senior.

"I remember telling him," Iannelli said, " 'Look, just because you get a thousand dollars, it doesn't mean if you get guys out, you're not going to get the opportunity to advance.'

"I said, 'Here's your chance. Make the most of it.' "

Although his professional career nearly didn't begin, Johnson said he doesn't know whether he savors his experience any more than his teammates, particularly those drafted high.

"I guess I get more of an opportunistic feeling," Johnson said. "Seize the day."

Johnson, who turned 24 last Friday, has done just that. He went 13-5 with a 4.04 ERA last year at low Single-A Asheville but was seen as more of an organizational type player than a prospect.

Modesto pitching coach Butch Hughes gave Johnson the Opening Day assignment this year because he throws strikes and has no fear — not because Johnson had elevated his status, his profile or anything else in the eyes of the organization.

"Coming out of spring training," Hughes said, "nobody had a prospect grade on him. No one. He made a U-turn. No question he's a prospect. You got to give this kid a chance."

In his start prior to Thursday, Johnson allowed two hits and no walks in eight innings against High Desert, struck out eight and won 4-0.

"The thing I pointed out to the staff was he went after contact with all of his pitches, with his changeup, with his curveball, with his fastball," Johnson said. "He just didn't go after contact with one pitch, one pitch, one pitch. Sooner or later, that one pitch is going to get hit."

Johnson typically pitches at 88-90 mph with his fastball, a radar gun reading that doesn't tell the whole story. Walt Weiss, a Rockies special assistant, said of Johnson, 'Where the radar gun says 90 (mph), the hitter thinks 93 (mph) because he has finish to his pitches. There's action the last 5 to 7 feet, a lot of action when (the ball) gets to the hitting zone."

When Weiss spent time with the Modesto team earlier this season, he was impressed how Johnson, on a day he didn't pitch, stood next to Weiss in the dugout and for a good six innings, asked Weiss what the hitter's perspective would be in various situations. It was apparent to Weiss that Johnson asked probing questions and wanted to learn. Weiss was equally impressed when he watched Johnson pitch.

"Very composed," Weiss said. "The fastball command is very impressive. With the action he's got on his two-seamer and the command he has and his ability to pitch in, those three things give him the ability to get outs with his fastball, which you have to be able to do at a higher level and particularly at (the major league) level. And I think he can do that."

In addition to being able to get outs with his fastball, Johnson has a swing-and-miss curveball and a good changeup. To be sure, Johnson makes more mistakes with his changeup and it's not as consistent as his other pitches.

"But the changeup's going to be a good pitch for him," Weiss said. "A good changeup is another pitch that's going to make his fastball more effective, and that's what I told him."

So how is it that Johnson didn't get drafted? He went from high school to Jefferson State Community College in Birmingham. Johnson said Samford University in Birmingham was the only Division I school that offered him a high school, but he opted for Jefferson State in hopes of playing more.

The Jefferson State baseball coach left after Johnson's first year there but not before asking Johnson what he wanted to do after baseball.

Johnson said he wanted to become an architect. Mississippi State and Auburn, Johnson said, were the schools in the Southeastern Conference for that occupational pursuit, and Johnson, with help from his junior college coach, ended up at Mississippi State.

Iannelli remembers seeing Johnson at Jefferson State when he had an 86-87 mph fastball and a good curveball.

"At Mississippi State," Iannelli said, "he was always a guy you said, 'I like him, but I'm not crazy about him. I'll try to take him as a senior.' His senior year, he came up with a cutter and started getting a lot of fastball command. He was a Friday night pitcher. Basically, he almost got lost in the shuffle in a year that had a lot of great Friday night arms in the area."

At the SEC tournament, Johnson pitched very well. Iannelli and Rockies crosschecker Danny Montgomery liked him. And so did scouting director Bill Schmidt, who was at the tournament.

When Johnson went undrafted, Iannelli called Schmidt, reminded him of Johnson and told Schmidt he wanted to sign Johnson. And all Johnson has done is go 30-14 as a professional.

"His stuff is certainly not overwhelming," Modesto manager Jerry Weinstein said, "but he knows how to get hitters out. And that's what this game is about. It's not (about) that 95 mile-an-hour fastball and that power breaking ball.

"They're pretty sexy, but if you're backing up third base all the time, it doesn't play. And his stuff plays, because he gets hitters out."

FALL BALL: Double-A Tulsa pitchers Ching-Lung Lo, Darren Clarke, Sean Thompson and Jarrett Grube will go to the Arizona Fall League along with Modesto center fielder Dexter Fowler, Tulsa second baseman Corey Wimberly and Tulsa third baseman/first baseman/outfielder Christian Colonel.

The Rockies minor leaguers will play for the Peoria Javalinas with other players on the team coming from the Atlanta, Washington, Seattle and New York Yankees organizations. The Fall League begins Oct. 9 and concludes with a championship game Nov. 16.

TROPICAL PARADISE: Pitchers Shane Lindsay, David Patton and Josh Sullivan, catcher Mike McKenry, first baseman Jeff Kindel and outfielder Cole Garner will play for the Waikiki Beach Boys in Hawaii Winter Baseball, where games run from Sept. 29 through Nov. 18.

Lindsay played there last year, hurt his shoulder and has missed the entire 2007 season. Patton, Kindel and Garner are playing for high Single-A Modesto. Sullivan and McKenry are with low Single-A Asheville.



Triple-A Colorado Springs (66-73 second half, tied second (Pacific North), 6 ½ games behind

Sky Sox Web site | Sky Sox Roster

Right fielder Seth Smith (.317-17-82) dislocated his right (non-throwing) shoulder Wednesday diving back to first base on a pick-off attempt. Smith is not in that much pain but is scheduled to have a magnetic resonance imaging exam Friday to determine the extent of the damage. The injury could jeopardize Smith’s chances of being called up by the Rockies when the rosters expand after the Sky Sox conclude their season Monday . . . Catcher Geronimo Gil, demoted when Chris Iannetta was recalled by the Rockies, did not accept the assignment to the Sky Sox and opted to become a free agent. To fill that catching void, Tommy Duenas was promoted from Tulsa but will return there Friday and Tino Sanchez will leave the Drillers and finish out the season with the Sky Sox . . . The Sky Sox broke a four-game losing streak with a 3-2 win in 12 innings Thursday at Sacramento but have lost nine of their past 11 and are 10-20 this month . . . .First baseman Joe Koshansky (.298-21-99) has gone eight games without an RBI . . . Versatile Jobert Cabrera (.333-1-10) broke a string of 18 hitless at-bats Thursday and one for his past 20 after going 17-for-34 upon joining the Sky Sox . . . .Alexis Gomez (.299-8-40), who played all three outfield positions Wednesday, has raised his average from .281 on Aug. 4 with 28 hits in his past 80 at-bats . . . Sacramento left-hander Dallas Braden set a minor-league high for the season with 17 strikeouts against the Sky Sox on Monday and won 3-0. Braden, who allowed three singles and no walks, had 12 swinging strikeouts and five called.



Double-A Tulsa (66-68 overall, 31-33 second half, second tied (North), 3 ½ games behind)

Tulsa Drillers Web site | Drillers Roster



Center fielder Chris Frey (.300-1-33) got his average to .300 on Wednesday for the first time since April 8 when he was hitting .308 after the fourth game of the season. Frey has 13 hits in his past 35 at-bats to raise his average from .293 . . . Samuel Deduno (5-8. 5.44) is tied for the second-most walks (66) and leads the Texas League in strikeouts (121) even though he didn’t make his Drillers debut until May 7 and has made 21 starts. Deduno, who has pitched 124 innings, is averaging 4.8 walks and 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings. Deduno has won just one of his 11 starts dating back to June 29 . . . Ching-Lung Lo (7-8, 5.55) threw the first nine-inning complete game of his professional career at Wichita on Monday, allowing six hits and one run in a 10-1 win. Lo, who has given up four runs and 10 hits in 16 2/3 innings in his past two starts, had one other professional complete game but that lasted six innings May 3, 2005, for Asheville in a weather-shortened loss at Lakewood . . . Second baseman Corey Wimberley (.266-4-32) stole a season-high three bases Wednesday and is 34-for-43 in steal attempts this season. Wimberley leads the Texas League in stolen bases — with five more than anyone else — even though he didn’t make his Drillers debut this year until May 1 because of a hamstring injury that kept him in extended spring training . . . Steven Register (1-3, 4.08 with 36 saves) is one save shy of the club record set by Ryan Speier in 2004 . . . With a league-leading 46 doubles, third baseman Christian Colonel (.311-16-82) has tied the Rockies Double-A record set by Seth Smith at Tulsa last year. The Tulsa club record is 51 doubles set by Mike Lamb in 1999 . . . After 222 consecutive relief appearances, including 40 this season, Judd Songster (5-5, 4.50) made his professional start in the second game of a doubleheader Sunday and worked 2 2/3 innings, allowing three hits and four runs and taking the loss in an 8-1 defeat at Wichita. Songster has made three three-inning relief appearances this season on May 14, June 23 and June 30.



High Single-A Modesto (75-61 overall, 41-25 second half, first (North), 1 game ahead)

Modesto Nuts Web site | Nuts Roster



Shortstop Chris Nelson (.290-18-96) is closing in on the Rockies high Single-A RBI record of 97 set by Brad Hawpe in 2002 and matched by Sean Barker in 2004. Nelson is second in the California League with 41 doubles, including 11 in July and 12 this month. Young went 4-for-4 on Thursday with a double and a triple. It was his third four-hit game of the season. The others were May 13 (4-for-4 with a double and homer) and July 31 (4-for-6 with a double and homer) . . . In his past seven starts, Brandon Hynick (16-4, 2.32) has three walks in 47 innings. The Nuts are 19-8 in games started by Hynick. The games Hynick lost were 4-1 at Inland Empire on June 7, 5-4 against Visalia on June 23, 4-1 against Stockton on July 25 and 3-0 at Visalia on Aug. 10, meaning the Nuts have scored six runs in Hynick’s losses . . . Tomas Santiago (2-4, 4.85 with seven saves) is 5-for-5 in save situations since becoming the Nuts closer following Pedro Strop’s season-ending elbow injury Aug. 8 . . . Brandon Durden (8-9, 4.70) has been scratched from his Saturday start and playoff tuneup because of elbow soreness . . . Second baseman Eric Young Jr. (.286-7-62) averaged one strikeout every 6.4 at-bats last year at Asheville where he drew 67 walks. He’s averaging one strikeout every 5.0 at-bats this year with 45 walks. However, Young’s totals this season are higher in runs scored (109 as opposed to 92), hits (151 and 142), triples (11 and 6), home runs 7 and 5) and RBI (62 and 49) . . . The Nuts have won five of their past six games, eight of their past 11 and 10 of their past 14.



Low Single-A Asheville (78-55 overall, 36-28, third (Southern), 5 games behind)

Asheville Tourists Web site | Tourists Roster



Josh Sullivan (3-2, 3.35) made his first start Aug. 24 after four relief outings this month and allowed two hits and two runs in five innings and lost 4-3 at Augusta. The start was Sullivan’s first since May 18 when triceps tendonitis flared up and put Sullivan on the disabled list for the second time this season. There’s a basic reason why the Rockies hope Sullivan, who pitched one inning at Tri-City in 2005 and underwent shoulder surgery after that season, aren’t about to convert him to a power reliever despite his injuries and instead hope he can make it as a starter. Tourists pitching coach Bryan Harvey said because of Sullivan’s four-pitch mix, "He has a chance to be a true No. 1 starter, if we can keep him healthy. His changeup is getting better. His slider and curveball are very, very good. His two-seamer moves a foot." . . . Aneury Rodriguez (9-9, 5.08) leads the South Atlantic League with 153 strikeouts and is averaging 9.4 per nine innings. Rodriguez, 19, struck out 10 with two walks while throwing a complete-game three-hitter Aug. 17 and had 11 strikeouts and two walks Tuesday at Hickory when he allowed two runs, one earned, in seven innings but lost 2-0. In that game, Rodriguez was 90-94 mph his fastball, averaged 92 mph and threw only 42 of 70 fastballs for strikes, 21 of 29 curveballs and four of five changeups. Rodriguez has a good feel for a changeup but needs to throw it more. That will undoubtedly be a priority for him in the instructional league program. Rodriguez has 46 walks in 147 innings pitched, an average of 2.8 per nine innings, but has issued more than two walks in just one of his past 14 starts . . . Knuckleballer Simon Ferrer (7-10, 5.22) gave up one hit and one run in four relief innings Monday. Sullivan took Ferrer’s spot in Asheville’s rotation. Ferrer has pitched 160 1/3 innings, a huge workload compared to last year, his first as a pitcher, when he worked 34 innings in relief. Ferrer on Monday relieved Andrew Graham (10-10, 5.49), who is 0-3, 11.25 in his past three starts, allowing 21 hits in 12 innings. Graham and Ferrer are likely to share another start when that turn arises a final time . . . .The Tourists have lost 11 of their past 17 games and 14 of their past 23 . . . Center fielder Anthony Jackson (.247-6-42) is 9-for-64 this month and has three hits in his past 25 at-bats . . . Opponents are 4-for-42 (.095) against Casey Weathers (0-0, 2.84 with two saves), who has six walks and 19 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings. He allowed two runs in his professional debut July 27, two more Aug 19 and has made 10 scoreless appearances . . . First baseman Michael Paulk (.303-11-92) has gone 11 games dating back to Aug. 17 without an RBI and has slipped to fourth in the league in that category, six behind the leader . . . Catcher Michael McKenry (.287-21-89) has moved up to fifth in the league in RBI, thanks to 24 this month when he has also hit .312 with nine doubles and eight homers.



Short-season Single-A Tri-City (34-36, first (East), 1 game ahead)

Tri-City Dust Devils Web site | Dust Devils Roster



The Dust Devils have won nine of their past 11 games and are 24-14 at home in the second half . . . Infielder Jordan Pacheco (.250-0-0) was promoted after hitting .292-3-29 at Casper because third baseman Darin Holcomb was hit with a pitch and shortstop Helder Velazquez had a sore elbow. However, both Holcomb and Velazquez, as well as Pacheco, played Wednesday . . . .Holcomb (.302-12-48) came out of a 3-for-19 slump with the first four-hit game of his career in a 15-6 rout of Yakima and went 2-for-4 on Thursday. He has more walks (29) than strikeouts (27) and is third in the Northwest League in homers and tied for fourth in RBI . . . Velazquez (.255-1-38) had a three-hit game Wednesday and picked up two more hits Thursday, raising his average to its highest point since Aug. 2 (.260). He has gone 12-for-33 while hitting safely in seven of his past eight games . . . Robinson Fabian (4-5, 3.68) went 3-0, 1.95 in six August starts with 11 walks and 32 strikeouts in 37 innings. He has allowed two runs, none earned, in 13 2/3 scoreless innings in his past two starts, including seven innings Monday in a 94-pitch outing at Spokane when Fabian, who has touched 94 mph, was 88-92 mph and averaged 91 mph with his fastball. He has a very good curveball and threw it 19 times and 12 for strikes Monday . . . The Dust Devils were shutout for the second time this season in a 6-0 loss against Yakima. In the fourth game of the season June 22, the Dust Devils were blanked 4-0 at Vancouver . . . Center fielder Michael Mitchell (.272-0-24) hit safely in six straight games and eight of his past nine, going 12-for-34 in that stretch before going 0-for-6 on Thursday. Mitchell leads the league with 28 stolen bases — four more than anyone else — in 36 attempts.



Rookie Casper (20-47 overall, 10-19 second half, tied third (South), 9 ½ games behind)

Casper Rockies Web site | Rockies Roster



The Rockies have won a season-high three straight games and four of their past five . . . Jhouylis Chacin (6-4, 3.31) is 3-0, 1.06 in his past five starts, allowing five runs, four earned, and 23 hits in 34 innings with 11 walks and 38 strikeouts. Chacin has accounted for 30 percent of Casper’s overall victories and 30 percent in the second half (three of 10). While winning 3-2 on Wednesday at Ogden, Chacin threw 64 of 98 pitches for strikes while allowing two runs, one earned, in 6 2/3 innings was 88-93 mph and averaged 91 mph with his fastball. He threw 30 of 50 fastballs, nine of 15 curveballs and 25 of 33 changeups for strikes, overmatching hitters with the latter pitch . . . In 64 1/3 innings, Jeff Fischer (0-9, 6.02) has allowed more home runs (17) than walks (16). However, while going 0-1 in his past three starts, Fischer has given up nine runs, six earned, in 17 innings for a 3.18 ERA with two walks and 17 strikeouts. Fischer has more losses and more homers allowed than any pitcher in the Pioneer League . . . Parker Frazier (3-4, 9.29) allowed four hits and one run in six innings Saturday, threw 55 of 70 pitches for strikes and was 86-91 mph with his fastball. He left without a decision in what became a 3-2 loss for the Rockies but pitched six scoreless innings Thursday and won 4-0 at Idaho Falls. That was the second shutout win for Casper, which won 5-0 at Orem on July 31 . . . First baseman Jeff Cunningham (.253-7-25), whose average has fallen to a season-low, has six hits in his past 33 at-bats and is 15-for-75 (.200) this month with 33 strikeouts. Cunningham’s homer Thursday was just his second dating back to July 12 . . . Reliever Edgmer Escalona (1-1, 4.05), who last pitched Aug. 14, has been sidelined with a virus and is on antibiotics.



etkinj@RockyMountainNews.com

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