(Rochester, MN)— The Rochester Honkers Baseball Club announced today that pitcher Kevin Johnson (pictured top) and infielder/pitcher Reid Roper (bottom) will return to the Rochester Honkers next summer. Both are from the University of Illinois Fighting Illini and are the first two signed for the 2012 season.
Johnson is a 6’3”, 210-pound right-handed junior from Midlothian, IL. He was Illinois’ No. 1 starting pitcher in 2011, pitching a team-high 103 innings and recording 63 strikeouts, tops among all pitchers. As a freshman, he tied a school record for wins by a freshman. Johnson was listed as the No. 13 recruit in the state of Illinois out of high school by Prep Baseball Report (PBR).
For the Honkers last summer, Johnson was 3-2 with a 6.43 ERA. He struck out 31 in 35 innings, and started 8 games, 6 of which were affected by rain. Johnson will anchor the Honkers starting pitching staff next summer.
Roper is a 6-foot, 200-pound redshirt freshman who saw his first collegiate live action with the Honkers last summer. He was sidelined at Illinois due to knee injury in the 2010 fall practice season. Roper played in 56 games for the Honkers, hitting .213 with 3 home runs, 19 RBI and 5 stolen bases. He saw most of his time at short. Roper also made 8 appearances on the mound, pitching 14 innings and striking out 11. Roper is scheduled to see action in the infield this season for Illinois as well as one of their closers.
Roper was drafted out of high school in the 29th round as a catcher by the Atlanta Braves in the 2010 MLB First-Year Player Draft. He finished his senior year hitting .504 with 10 home runs while going 12-0 with a 0.84 ERA on the mound.
