Pirates GM Confident Top Prospect Can Turn Things Around
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PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates have some great talent coming up through the farm system, but one top prospect hasn't lived up to expectations this season.
Pirates second baseman Termarr Johnson has struggled with Triple-A Indianapolis in 2026, serving as one of the worst hitters in the International League.
Johnson has slashed .167/.284/.215 for an OPS of .499 in 44 games this season, with both the lowest slugging percentage and OPS, the seventh-lowest on-base percentage and the third-lowest batting average amongst all qualified International League hitters.
It's been a rough season for the fourth overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, but the Pirates haven't given up on him just yet.
Pirates Still Showing Faith in Termarr Johnson
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington spoke on the Pirates Insider Show on May 31 about Johnson and what he's made of him this season.
Cherington noted the struggles for Johnson, with both the team and he working on improving his contact and increasing the quality hits he has moving forward.
He also said that they are going to continue helping Johnson through this tough time and that he's just 21 years old at the Triple-A level.
“It’s been an interesting year and he’s obviously struggled," Cherington said. "It’s encouraging to see a little pickup lately. He’s a really talented hitter for Triple-A. It’s interesting you mention the walks picking up a little bit and he’s really not striking out that much and usually those two things go together and it leads to good things.
“There’s been some things about the contact quality that has been a little bit different this year than in the past. We’ve identified some things mechanically in his swing and just how he’s going after the baseball that we’ve been working with him on and he’s working hard on.
“It’s encouraging to see a little bit better contact quality because he’s still been managing the strike zone, generally making contact and not swing-and-miss a lot, not striking out a lot, but the in-play contact wasn’t leading to results. So we just got to get back into that. He’s got to get back into a better position where he’s just hitting the ball the way he has in the past.
"So he’s a talented kid who’s really young. He’s experiencing Triple-A for the first time. We’ll stick with him."
Where Johnson Has Struggled in 2026
Johnson already ranks as one of the worst hitters in the International League, which is a disappointing reality for someone who had a 70 grade contact and 60 grade power coming out of the 2022 draft.
He has just 24 hits in 144 at-bats, with four doubles, a home run, 11 RBI and 23 walks to 46 strikeouts, a tough start through the first two months of 2026.
The biggest concern about Johnson is his lack of power, with just the one home run, which came on May 30 vs. Iowa, his 43rd game played this season.
Johnson went from 18 home runs in 2023 to 15 home runs in 2024 to nine home runs with Double-A Altoona in 2025 and is on pace for just three home runs in 2026.
2026 Advanced Metrics Termarr Johnson
Stat | Total | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
Launch Angle Sweet Spot | 25.8% | Second |
Average Exit Velocity | 82.7 mph | Fourth |
Hard-Hit % | 28.9% | Seventh |
Max Exit Velocity | 109.0 mph | 33rd |
Barrel % | 5.1% | 38th |
Another area of concert is his Z-Swing (swings at pitches in the zone), which is 72.9% and the 85th percentile, but Z-Contact rate is just 75.5%, the eighth percentile.
If Johnson does manage to start putting more balls in play and hit less defensively, he can combine that with his solid walk rate (13.4%, 65th percentile), and eventually find his power too.
That's not an easy thing to do, but the support Johnson has from the Pirates should give him time to figure out some improvements through the remainder of the season.
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Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.