The Pittsburgh Pirates’ long view on Termarr Johnson just took a major hit.
Johnson, one of the organization’s most important young players, is headed for surgery after suffering tears to the ACL and LCL in his left knee. The injury happened when he fell awkwardly near first base in his last game with Triple-A Indianapolis on Aug. 8, leaving him with his left leg in a cast before he was taken off the field on a cart.
Pirates senior director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said Johnson will have surgery on Aug. 20.
Tomczyk described the operation as a left knee ACL reconstruction and an LCL procedure, and said Dr. Dan Cooper, who specializes in knee surgeries for athletes, will perform it in Dallas, Texas.
Tomczyk called it a "pretty traumatic knee injury" and did not offer a recovery timeline, noting how complicated these procedures can be and how long the healing process usually takes.
The outlook is grim enough that Johnson could miss all of next season, and at the very least he will not be ready for the start of 2027. ACL reconstructions can take around nine to 12 months, while LCL injuries can take about six months, depending on severity.
For Johnson, the timing stings because his season had started to turn. After a rough opening stretch, he began to settle in at Triple-A.
Through the end of May, he was batting .167/.284/.215 with an OPS of .499, a line that made him one of the worst hitters in the International League over those first two months. But in June, he posted .225/.384/.393 with an OPS of .777, then followed that with .250/.375/.450 and an OPS of .825 in July.
He also found some power during that stretch, hitting seven of his eight home runs on the season in June and July.
The Pirates selected Johnson fourth overall in the 2022 MLB Draft out of Benjamin E. Mays High School and have viewed him as a key piece of their future.
Even so, the production has not matched the expectations yet. In 467 minor league games, Johnson has hit .239/.372/.382 with an OPS of .754.
He turned 22 in June, but this injury sets back his development in a serious way. At the earliest, his MLB debut now appears to be in 2028.
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