How escape rooms help Johnston slow the game down

This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola’s Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

JUPITER, Fla. -- Marlins No. 20 prospect Troy Johnston will be the first to admit things sped up for him during his first big league Spring Training in 2023.

In hindsight, Johnston realizes he could’ve used his escape-room expertise as a reminder to slow things down. Better yet, he could’ve walked a couple of blocks from Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium and visited the local escape room for some much-needed stress relief.

“In escape rooms, essentially, you're trying to figure out ways when things aren't going right,” said Johnston, who first tried one three years ago. “You are trying to figure out ways to be successful and get out of the room, do whatever it is. Same thing with baseball. You're in a slump, you've got to try to figure out, put the pieces together, create the puzzle, whatever it is. So you can succeed in baseball, life, whatever it is. It's a direct correlation in the sense that we're all working on things ourselves, and we're all going towards a common goal.”

That could easily describe the 26-year-old Johnston's situation in 2024: He hopes to finally reach the Majors, and in turn help the Marlins return to the postseason. Yet, just like the non-linear escape rooms Johnston prefers, his professional baseball career hasn’t gone down a straight path.

The Marlins didn’t protect Johnston ahead of December’s Rule 5 Draft, which came as a surprise to some, considering he collected a Minor League-high 116 RBIs between the Double-A and Triple-A levels and was named Miami’s Minor League Player of the Year. No organization selected him, so he remained with the Marlins.

Rather than harp on it, Johnston and his mental skills coach moved the conversation forward by asking what was next. Johnston thought of a decades-old saying around his Tacoma, Wash., community from the late Pacific Lutheran University football coach Frosty Westering: “Make the big time where you are.” In essence, no matter the level, be the best player on the field.

Raised by a board-game-loving family, Johnston didn’t need to be told twice to get the competitive juices flowing. So, in order to combat his nerves and be the best version of himself this spring, he came up with a strategy -- one that would’ve paid off at Exit Puzzles in Olympia, Wash. Johnston showed up almost a week before the first full-squad workout for his second big league camp as a non-roster invitee.

“Last year, I pretty much got to camp and three days later I was playing a game,” Johnston said. “And so I was not mentally and physically ready last year to play. This year, I feel like I'm a lot more prepared mentally and physically. I've been working with the mental skills coach, you guys all know that. I'm very, very in depth with my mental skills. And it's all about how we set ourselves up, how we focus on different things and do stuff like that. And I think that's really, really helped me come into this Spring Training.”

Through five Grapefruit League games, Johnston has impressed by going 4-for-9 with one RBI, two walks and no strikeouts. The only thing slowing him down is a rolled right ankle, which he sustained on Friday against the Phillies in Clearwater, Fla. It was visibly swollen on Saturday back in Jupiter, where he underwent treatment and is considered day to day.

“All Troy has done is hit,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “He has not done anything but hit last year and then continuing into Spring Training -- lefties, righties, it doesn't matter. He's playing a better first base than maybe I saw in spring last year, obviously just video-wise in Triple-A last year. We put him in left field yesterday to kind of see what that looks like, just to have more options for him and for us, and [first-base/outfield coach] Jon Jay likes it. So just [testing] different options to have to make him more attractive to make the team.”