Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Termarr Johnson bats during the seventh inning of a spring training baseball game against the Detroit Tigers Saturday, March 9, 2024, in Lakeland, Fla. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
This is one in a series of stories breaking down PBN’s Top 30 Pittsburgh Pirates prospects.
Termarr Johnson might not be exactly what the Pirates were expecting when they took him fourth overall in the 2022 draft as a prep player from Atlanta.
When he was a draft prospect, he was labeled as the top prep hitter in decades and parts of his game were compared to Hall of Famer Wade Boggs and Vladimir Guerrero. Looking back, that’s pretty unfair, no?
After a few games in the Florida Complex League to start his career, Johnson played 14 games with Low-A Bradenton after he was drafted and hit .275 with an .846 OPS, four doubles, a home run and four steals.
Johnson’s 2023 season began back at Bradenton where he hit just .244 but had a stellar .419 on-base percentage and slugged 13 home runs in 75 games. The Pirates promoted Johnson to Greensboro at the start of August and he finished with a .242/.427/.414 batting line in 30 games.
Johnson was back in Greensboro to start the 2024 season but he didn’t have the same level of success he did the year prior. In 110 games, Johnson’s batting line dipped to .238/.372/.385 with 17 doubles, 13 home runs and 46 RBI. Despite a dip in production, the Pirates promoted Johnson to Double-A Altoona towards the end of the season.
The 21-year-old spent all of 2025 back with the Curve, where despite a dip in power numbers, he compiled a solid season. Johnson finished the year with a .272 batting average — the highest mark of any year of his career. He had a .363 on-base percentage, a .745 OPS (119 wRC+) with 15 doubles, three triples, nine home runs and 20 stolen bases.
Strikeouts had been an issue for Johnson in the first couple years of his career, but he’s shown improvement over the last two years. The left-handed hitter went down on strikes in 26% of his plate appearances in 2023. That number dipped to 21.3% in 2024 and down to 18.5% this past season.
And he’s always shown an ability to get on base. While he became a more aggressive hitter this season, Johnson still posted a healthy walk rate of 11.7%. For his career, Johnson owns a 16.4% walk rate.
Johnson has always been young for the level he’s played at. In fact, he didn’t face a pitcher younger than him in his career until the end of August while with the Curve this season. Think about that.
While Johnson might not be considered a top 100 prospect by the major publications anymore, he still does some things well.
The biggest goal for Johnson in 2026 — which will likely start with Triple-A Indianapolis — will be to figure out what kind of hitter he is. Will he be someone who strikes out a lot but offsets those numbers with a healthy walk rate and puts the ball over the fence? Or will he be a slap hitter who puts the ball in play as he was in ’25?
In a perfect world, Johnson will find a way to blend the two by time he reaches Pittsburgh, which might come at some point next year.
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