Houston looks forward to Johnson playing key role in 2011

By DAVID DALATI FOXSportsHouston.com Since 2007, Morgan Ensberg's final year as the Astros' regular third baseman, the club has trotted a new name at that position each season. Ty Wigginton was the starter in '08, Geoff Blum in '09 and Chris Johnson ended up playing 90 games at third last season. Johnson, in his official rookie year, batted .308 with 11 home runs and 52 RBI. So the Astros now hope they have the guy that will be the first multiple-season regular at that position since Ensberg, who started at third for five years (2003-07). Johnson was on the opening night roster but after struggling early in the year, he was sent back to Round Rock. His next chance came in June. "(Manager Brad Mills) sat me in his office and basically told me,'you're the guy. I don't care if you slump, if you get hits or not, you're going to play every day,' said Johnson. "That made me a little more comfortable to just go out there and play and not worry about having three or four hits a day. That's probably what helped." Johnson, 26, was a fourth round pick by the Astros in 2006. Johnson played high school baseball in Fort Myers, FL and college ball at Florida Atlantic as well as Stetson. Ricky Bennett, currently in charge of professional scouting, was part of the decision-making process to select Johnson. "He was big, he was athletic," said Bennett. "At the time we drafted him he was actually playing shortstop and third base. (His athletic ability) is one thing that we liked about him. He fits the profile of a big league third baseman. He can hit, he can hit for power and he's got good hands. We saw all those things when we drafted him." The fact that Johnson did not experience immediate success when he was called up in 2009 or early in 2010 is probably not a shock to Bennett because he says Johnson is a player that has routinely gone through an adjustment period at every level. "Every time we moved him through the system, he would have two or three weeks where he would struggle a little bit," Bennett said. "Once he got comfortable at that level, his numbers really shot up." Bennett is also not surprised that Johnson has emerged as the club's starting third baseman after apparently acclimating to Major League pitching. Of course, the adjustments will have to continue for Johnson. He is likely to be treated differently by opposing pitchers now that he has displayed an ability to hit at the big league level. "Yeah, I think so," Johnson remarked about expecting different treatment this year. "I think now that they know who I am, they're not going to just feed me fastballs and see what I can do with them. I'm sure they're not going to challenge me as much as they did last year." The hole in Johnson's game is the number of strikeouts. He whiffed 91 times in 362 plate appearances last year while drawing only 15 walks. Johnson is part of a core group of young players that the Astros are relying on heavily. In addition to the young third baseman, the youth movement includes catcher Jason Castro, first baseman Brett Wallace and pitcher Bud Norris. "There's some pressure on us," said Johnson. "We know that we're young but we know that we have to step up. The Astros organization doesn't want to hear about us being young and having growing pains. We gotta step in, play well and win some ballgames." Johnson does have to improve defensively after committing 18 errors in just 90 games in 2010. The Mets' David Wright led all National League third basemen with 20 errors, but Wright played in 157 games.