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VOLUME 26, ISSUE 4 85 an effort to get them through the zone more quickly, rather than having them delayed a bit behind his head. But a conversation with his dad, Steve, a former basketball player at the U.S. Naval Academy, flipped another switch. Kyle Johnson had spent his first two- and-a-half seasons scouring over his every at-bat, maybe even every pitch, a mentally taxing distraction. He thought about his statistics during games, figuring that if he had two hits on an afternoon, then three sounded a heck of a lot better. And if he had three strikeouts, a fourth sounded downright horrible. His dad wanted him to drop all that. "He was like, 'You can't worry about anything else. You can't think about pro ball, the draft, whatever, you just have to go out and have fun, because your days of playing ball are limited. No matter how many games that is, they are limited. You can't play forever. You just have to go out there every day and treat it as if it's your last day. You could get injured, something else could happen,'" Kyle Johnson said. "Thinking of that kind of hit home, made me realize how lucky I am to be play- ing baseball, a Division I sport. So I thought, 'All right, every game I'm going to have as much fun as I can have, play loose and relaxed.' "It started clicking for me." It certainly did. During a streak of 18 consecutive games in which he reached base safely, a string broken only by the injury that finally forced him to the dugout in the finale, Johnson hit .362 with 10 extra base hits and 14 RBI. "You could tell he was a different person," teammate Eddie De LaR- iva said. "He wasn't worried about the stats or anything. He literally just wanted to go out there and play and he had the passion for it, and it showed on the field." The approach has made Johnson more relaxed in the box. Before, he struggled to contact off-speed pitches, curveballs in particular, not because he didn't see them, but be- cause he was so impatient. Pitchers, therefore, could easily cross him up, getting Johnson to get way out in front and strike out at too high a rate, about once every four at-bats. Johnson still struck out last season, 55 times in 185 ABs, but his production countered it; he hit career-highs of .286 with six homers, 34 runs batted in and 31 walks, nearly doubling his total from the first two seasons com- bined. "I don't think I was consciously trying too hard, but subconsciously (I was) swinging a little too hard, think- ing a little too much," he said. "It wasn't a huge adjust- ment, but it definitely proved to be a major adjustment. "I think the way I approach the game now is different, the way I look at it. Instead of (thinking), 'Oh, OK, we're playing this team so I have to do this, this and this in order to win.' It's, 'All right, I get to play baseball today. What can I do to help the team win?' I'm more willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win rather than focusing on what I need to. … It opens my mind up a little bit and makes me more relaxed." But even in those instances when Johnson's not been dialed in at the plate, he's been able to affect the Boilermakers in other ways. Defen- sively, few can match his ability. Johnson's a natural in center field, with his long strides eating up chunks of yardage as he tracks down fly balls. Although much of that might be instinctual, he's worked to hone the craft, as well. During first trips to new stadi- ums, Johnson will check out parks' intricacies, the width of the warning track, the angles and height of the wall. Sight lines. Etc. "I think that's one of the biggest strengths that I have," he said. "Ev- ery time we take (batting practice), I'm shagging (fly balls). I take every single BP round seriously, trying to get the best reads on the ball, best jumps on the ball. "I love playing defense, take tre- The Lineup Card Purdue's projected lineup and rotation Player (bats) Pos. Avg.* Harry Shipley (L) SS .274 Cody Strong (R) 2B .227 Jacson McGowan (R) 3B N/A Kyle Wood (L) 1B .326 Kyle Johnson (R) CF .286 Jack Picchiotti (L) C .222 Mike Kornacker (R) DH N/A Brett Carlson (R) LF .235 Alec Olund (R) RF .231 Top Reserves Nick Dalesandro (R) OF N/A Justin Gubser (R) C .138 Weekend Rotation Player (throws) W-L/ERA* Tanner Andrews (R) 0-0/5.06 Nick Daleandro (R) n/a Gavin Downs (R) 5-4/6.60 Bullpen/Others Player (throws) W-L/ERA* Shane Bryant (R) 3-3/4.82 Matt Frawley (R) 1-9/4.55 Kyle Van Hoeck (L) 0-0/6.26 Tanner Schumacher (R) N/A Mike Kornacker (R) 1-2/3.00 Mike Lutz (R) 1-0/5.65 Alex Lyons (R) 1-2/5.88 Tim McElroy (L) 0-2/6.41 * 2015 season stats