Flashback Friday Q&A with Josh Johnson

Former Marlins ace speaks on Toronto trade, Eury Pérez, and much more.

From 2009-2011, Josh Johnson was one of, if not the best pitcher in baseball. A decade removed from his final MLB appearance, the two-time All-Star returned to loanDepot Park for the latest Flashback Friday Marlins alumni celebration. Johnson, Justin Bour, and Gaby Sanchez threw out the ceremonial first pitches before Miami’s devastating 4-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

After the media scrum, Josh sat down with me for a few minutes and allowed me to discuss a myriad of topics. Here’s that conversation.

Fish On First: I’m here with former Marlins ace Josh Johnson. Thanks so much for taking the time. First off, how’s retirement been? What have you been up to?

Josh Johnson: It’s been great. Coaching, coaching, and more coaching. Working with different age levels of kids, was doing lessons for a while, but now I’m actually coaching teams, and I’m teaching them the right ways to play baseball.

FOF: We spoke briefly before the interview about some of the rule changes. You’re a big fan of the pitch clock?

JJ: I would have loved it, that’s all I know. As soon as I heard it, I figured the hitters would have the toughest time with it, not all hitters. There were only a few pitchers that I remember who really took their time. As far as hitters, they like to fix the batting gloves, all that kind of stuff, and now they have to get ready right away, but I think the league has adjusted well.

FOF: You actually threw the first pitch ever in this stadium as you were part of the team that broke in Marlins Park. What was your favorite memory from that tumultuous 2012 season?

JJ: Ooh. I like just how I battled, honestly. That was a rough year with different things. The way my body felt wasn’t great basically all year. And then I get to the end of the year with 191 innings, I had a chance to get 200. The hamstring is tight, the shoulder is tight, seemed like everything wasn’t in the cards to throw 200 innings, you know. The way I actually battled through that season was actually one of my proudest moments as a big leaguer.

FOF: Like most very tall pitchers, you struggled with command early on in your career. What’s it like to see someone like Eury Perez come up and attack the strike zone like he has at 6’8" and 20 years old?

JJ: It’s, honestly it’s a little mind-blowing really to watch him. I started watching him the last couple weeks, just to get a feel for who’s pitching, just to see what I’ve been hearing about and the things that have been said about him, and he’s the real deal. Whenever you can control the ball like that and have four pitches and be as good as he has been, he’ll be in this game for a long time.

FOF: Your reaction to that infamous Toronto trade in November of 2012? 

JJ: Honestly, we were all a little bummed. We thought we were gonna get one more season. We thought we were really close to being a playoff contender in '13. Everyone in that clubhouse thought it. Once José Reyes got comfortable playing out of New York, we were all really excited. I actually talked to Mike Redmond maybe a day or two before the trade, and we spoke about how big that season was going to be. Spoke to Buehrle, John Buck. Another year of working with Buehrle and talking to Buehrle and learning from him was really looking forward to it in Miami. We really had a fun and great team that loved being around each other, and I thought we were close to making a serious run.

FOF: You’re on the other side of history when you faced Roy Halladay. Perfect game, obviously. I was there, you pitched very well. What was that day like?

JJ: It’s awesome, honestly. It’s funny because the first thing that comes to mind is that when 12-year-olds go to Cooperstown for baseball, I get to say I have something in the Hall of Fame. I am a lifetime Hall of Fame member, not for something I did—well, actually, for one thing, I did, which was throwing the first pitch in the stadium—but I have two things in there, and one of them was having my jersey taken for Halladay’s perfect game.

FOF: Amazing. Thanks so much for the time, JJ. 

JJ: It was a pleasure.

JJ goes down as one of the franchise’s best starting pitchers of all time. He ranks first in team history in pitching WAR, ERA, Adjusted ERA +, and WPA. He also struck out future Marlin CEO Derek Jeter in the 2010 All-Star Game.

One of my personal favorites as a child, it was an honor to speak with JJ.