Aiden Tsaturyan ’25
Brad Johnston ’23, a member of the Varsity Baseball team, is known by his coaches and teammates for his vocality, leadership, dedication, and love for the sport of baseball.
However, Johnston was not always as dedicated to baseball, despite the fact that he has been playing since he was eight years old in Little League. Growing up, he was a soccer player, but through the years, he developed a passion for baseball, gradually switching his main athletic focus to baseball his freshman year.
Originally, Johnston started playing baseball because his grandfather was very supportive of it, but along the way, there were some shifts away from baseball. Johnston left baseball for a year to play lacrosse and then quit again for another two years to focus on soccer. In eighth grade, due to a concussion, he was forced to stop playing soccer, which helped him rediscover his love for baseball, where he played on the youth Broomall Newtown Babe Ruth team.
Johnston’s teammates appreciate his hard work, leadership, and dedication to accomplishing his goals. Zach LaTour ’23, states, “I went to the same little league with Brad, which was Newtown Edgmont Little League, but he was always a year ahead of me. Once we both came to Episcopal in the 6th grade, we began playing middle school baseball together, which eventually became high school baseball. I’ve played baseball with Brad for around 6 or 7 years.”
TJ Cadden ’23, another teammate of Johnston’s, says, “I’ve been playing baseball with Brad since our freshman year at EA. Brad is always focused on the task at hand. At each point during games and practice, he’s always looking to get better. Brad is constantly doing whatever it takes to help the team win, which always has a positive impact on our team”.
LaTour further elaborates that “on the field, Brad is a focused and vocal guy. He knows what he wants — an Inter-Ac championship — and he’s going to work as hard as he can to get it. He just has a positive role on the team. He’s a vocal guy, and he does a great job of keeping us all accountable and is always the first guy to try to help a younger player with something or keep us all in line. Overall, he’s just a great leader.”
Additionally, Coach Grandieri, coach of Boys’ Varsity Baseball, describes Johnston as “a physical and mental force that we rely on.” He elaborates “From his freshman to senior year, Brad has developed as a person the most on the team, in terms of mind and body, and spirit. He has always had a vision of who he wants to be and doesn’t let anybody or anything get in the way of that vision.”
Grandieri continues, “Away from baseball, Brad is a deep thinker. Whether it be baseball or academics, Brad thinks deeply about everything and analyzes his surroundings. A lot of people tend to overcomplicate things, but if you trust the work you put in, you’ll get the things you desire. This shows just how Brad is as a person. He’s an exceptional example of a young individual at the Episcopal Academy.”
Johnston has accomplished great things in his career, including overcoming a 1-9 Inter-Ac record in his sophomore year to an improved finish in his junior year. This was due to the extremely young core of the team. However, Brad is grateful that the former group “finally was able to mature in junior year” and says that he and his team “had a tremendous outcome, ending the year with a 25-4 record—the highest record since 1983—as well as being second place in the Inter-Ac. This was such an accomplishment, because EA’s program had historically not been the greatest, but we were finally able to turn it around.” Additionally, Johnston led the team with a batting average of .372 as well as 23 RBI during his junior year.
LaTour’s favorite story with Johnston was during the team’s spring training trip to Florida in his junior year. LaTour says, “We were three or four games in, and we just needed a guy to get some outs on the mound. Brad, of course, volunteered. He proceeded to pitch the same way he had before his injuries. I thought that Brad going into the game wasn’t going to do very well, but he got up there and got some crucial outs for that trip.”
Grandieri’s favorite memory of Johnston was during his junior year, playing against the Perkiomen School. Grandieri states, “A moment that stuck out, considering he had dealt with injuries from different sports, was when he knew that he was facing a high velocity pitcher, but he didn’t let the fear of failure get to his head. Brad ended up hitting a double, bouncing off the wall of the field, and scoring multiple runs for the team. I expected him to be a little proud, considering he landed on second base, but I saw him as rather disappointed. That just goes to show the extent to which Brad pushes himself day in and day out. He always wants to be the best version of himself that he can be.”
Johnston will continue his baseball career after he graduates at Swarthmore College, a Division III school. Johnston says, “Committing was rough since I tore my UCL — a common elbow injury for baseball players — and ended up having to get surgery at the end of the season. Playing through last year was especially hard because I couldn’t throw and was only able to hit. I lost a lot of interest from Ivy League programs, but in the fall I ended up going to a showcase and got an offer from Swarthmore.”
Photo courtesy of Brad Johnston ’23
Grandieri has an optimistic outlook on Johnston’s future baseball career:, “I think Brad will only grow in the future. As of right now, as a multi-sport athlete, Brad has never truly been solely focused on baseball. For that reason, I can only see him making significant progress. His best days are ahead of him.”