By Erik Harris
CLAY — Clay-Chalkville junior Thomas Johns has returned to the lineup for the first time in 2015.
Johns, an Auburn verbal commitment, missed the first month of the season while he recovered from an injury. His offensive power comes as a welcome sight for head coach Bubba Roberts, who’s in the midst of his Class 6A, Area 12 schedule.
“It stinks missing that many games, never done that before,” Johns said. “It feels good being back out there and competing against everybody.”
The Cougars’ pitching staff, which is spearheaded by UAB signee Matthew Calvert, sees the junior as a run producer that can make life easier on their arms.
“He can bring offensive production that none of us really have,” Calvert said. “He has unlimited power, he’s a big-time bat, SEC-type player, so having him back in the lineup helps a lot.”
That feeling was validated by the sight of Johns lifting a home run into the pines behind the right field fence at Pinson Valley High School in his first game back last Tuesday.
“I was on deck behind him and after those first two at-bats, I was talking to him,” Calvert said. “I was like, ‘You haven’t seen live pitching in three months, so it’s going to happen. (Johns) was like, ‘I’ll get him next at-bat.’”
And he did when Indians’ righty Brett Jordan made a mistake on Johns’ third trip to the plate, serving up a letter-high changeup that won’t soon be found. Jordan struck out Johns on his first two trips.
Johns credits his first two at-bats to typical opening day jitters he had to shake.
“You’re going to get nervous, it’s my first game and nothing really to do with the injury or anything, it’s just normal first game jitters and getting those out and getting back to business,” Johns said.
He also spoke about how his timing has to come back around.
“Of course, the timing was an issue,” Johns said. “I was late on the first one, made an adjustment and was earlier on the second one, so I felt like I made adjustments at the plate, which makes me proud because it makes me feel more like a mature hitter doing that.”
After seeing a few pitches, Johns believes that he’s got his rhythm back.
“Really it’s just timing,” he said. “It’s just getting that live pitching, because I haven’t seen live pitching since this fall, so really just getting live pitching and I got that in the last at-bat so I think I’m back in business and ready to help the team.”