Colfax grad Nathan Johnson signs with Kansas City Royals

Nathan Johnson of Colfax departed on a flight to Phoenix early Monday morning to cap a whirlwind week in the world of minor league baseball. Johnson, who completed a four-year college baseball career with the Whitworth Pirates in Spokane, Sunday signed a contract to play for the Kansas City Royals.

He reported to the Royals’ facility at Surprise, Ariz., for a camp session.

Johnson is the first Whitworth graduate to ink a professional contract since Matt Squires was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 19th round of 2001.

Johnson signed as a free agent after last week’s professional baseball draft rounds. He didn’t anticipate being drafted, but the Royals decided to sign him after the draft based on reports from their scouts.

Johnson actually signed Sunday at Whitworth after a one-week adventure to Medicine Hat, Alta., where he had planned to play this summer with the Alberta Mavericks in a semi-pro league. He pitched one inning of relief Monday and two on Wednesday. He was booked to start on the mound for the Mavericks Saturday but got the word from the Royals and made the eight-plus hour drive home Saturday, according to his mom, Robyn Johnson.

Johnson also awarded a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics from Whitworth last month.

Last summer Johnson played for the Moses Lake Pirates in the West Coast Collegiate League.

His dad, Mark Johnson, believes Nathan’s stint last summer at Moses Lake attracted the attention of baseball scouts who were probably more interested in his potential to develop than in his record. Nathan finished 3-4 at Moses Lake with a 4.17 ERA. He pitched in over 62 innings.

A 2007 graduate at Colfax High School, Nathan over his four years at Whitworth booked 11 wins, 47 appearances and started 30 games. He had three saves and struck out 119 opponents.

His highlight performance this spring was a 1-0 shutout of the Lewis-Clark State College team at Merkel Field in Spokane.

Mark Johnson said Nathan, who is now 6-2 and weighs 180, also played a lot of the season at shortstop.

Johnson played under Coach Scott Ward in his freshman year at Whitworth and played the last three years under Coach Dan Ramsay.

This year, Johnson finished 5-4 with a 4.14 earned run average in 67-plus innings and struck out 33 batters.

Whitworth this spring finished 20-20 overall and 13-11 in the Northwest Conference.

Mark Johnson said after rookie camp, Nathan will probably remain in Arizona and play in the rookie league which inhabits the vacated major league training camps during the summer. Also, depending on the outcome of the camp session, Nathan could be assigned to a Royals’ A division team, either in Idaho Falls or Burlington, N.C.