BRADENTON, Fla. — Last year, Brian Johnson was the closest thing the Boston Red Sox had to super utility pitcher – spot starter, swing man, short relief, middle relief, long relief. Johnson did it all, and he did it pretty well.

This year, Johnson will likely serve similar role, along with Hector Velazquez. The difference with Johnson this year he knows what to expect. Last season was the first in Johnson’s professional career in which he served as a reliever, with 25 of his 38 appearances out of the bullpen.

It was new and different. This year will not be.

“I think last year was a big steppingstone for me learning how to prep for the bullpen because I had never done that, and I was trying to learn midseason at the big league level. That was kind of tough for me,” he said after allowing one run in two innings of Boston’s 4-3 loss to the Pirates on Monday. “I remember one time going into (Manager) Alex (Cora’s) office and saying, ‘I’m figuring this out, but I will figure this out.'”

Using constant communication with Cora and coaches, Johnson did figure it out. The dividends could be even better this year.

“The bullpen role, if that’s the case, if we have to throw him out of the bullpen this year, he’ll be better suited to it,” Cora said. “I think he learned a lot as far as being aggressive in the edges of the strike zone. We expect big things out of him.”

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Johnson did not make any of the three postseason rosters, but that never became a problem.

“You try to find a way to help,” Johnson said. “I contribute a lot of that to Alex where he communicated so well, when he told me I wasn’t going to be on the roster I wasn’t like, ‘Oh my god.’ We had talked, throughout the whole year, even some outings I came out at 42/3 (innings), he had talked to me and it wasn’t like I was being blindsided. Throughout the year, he did great job of communicating with me, and I think he did that with the whole team.”

Cora surprised nobody by leaving Johnson off the postseason roster. That doesn’t mean the lefty’s effort wasn’t appreciated.

“Him and Hector last year, they were like our MVPs,” Cora said. “Without those two, we don’t win the World Series. What they did since the fourth game of the season all the way to the end, starting games, high-leverage situations, up 10, down 6, whatever. They were amazing. They were available. They never complained. Those two guys, they were our saviors throughout the season.”

Having Johnson and Velazquez available to duplicate their roles again this year matters a great deal to Cora.

“I’m a big believer that that’s needed nowadays,” Cora said. “It’s tough to survive just with guys that go one inning, or lefties that only get lefties out. It’s not that easy nowadays, so I’d rather have two guys that can go multiple innings than actually have guys that their specialty is to get right-handed or left-handed hitters.”


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