Newsday Athlete of the Week: Newfield pitcher Dylan Johnson

Before heading to the next level, Newfield’s Dylan Johnson added a new pitch to his repertoire — one that is already working to perfection. Previously a fastball-breaking ball, bread-and-butter type, Johnson added a sinker this season with startlingly good results.

The St. John’s commit is 6-0 with three saves, 61 strikeouts, 16 hits allowed, eight walks, and a Jacob deGrom-esque 0.76 ERA.

He threw a complete game shutout on 84 pitches in Newfield’s 4-1 win over Eastport–South Manor on Wednesday in the Suffolk III semifinals, leading the Wolverines to their first county championship game in school history. They won the Suffolk Conference III title game on Friday, 2-0, over West Islip, with Kendall Kendrick pitching a one-hitter.

Yes, Johnson was good before, but that sinker has made him much better.

"I’m just getting more swings and misses and groundouts with that pitch and it’s helping me keep my pitch count down a lot this year," the righthander said. "In years past, one of the problems I had was [I threw] a lot of pitches in every game, but now once I got that sinker, I’ve been more efficient."

Johnson’s excellence helped guide Newfield to a Suffolk Conference III regular-season championship, as well, clinched after a 4-1 win over West Islip on June 7, a game that Johnson started and finished. It was Newfield’s first league title since 2005, coach Eric Joyner said.

"I started off struggling a little bit," Johnson said of the regular-season championship-clinching start. "The breaking ball wasn't there, but I trusted my teammates. We scratched a couple of runs across. Once I found the breaking ball, it was smooth sailing after that."

Johnson said that he began throwing the new pitch with his travel team last summer. His confidence in it was almost immediate.

"It sinks a lot very late," he said. "So when it crosses the plate, it's really just starting to break."

Johnson, a nephew of former Comsewogue star and 1981 Yastrzemski Award winner Raf Cepeda, throws in the mid-to-high 80s and does it consistently, something that has steadily improved throughout his high school years.

"With him getting stronger, his velocity sustains for seven innings now," Joyner said. "I think it's just the experience, he’s a four-year varsity guy. He's always had a penchant for pitching the big game. The lights have never been too bright for this kid."

While the sinker has fooled more than its fair share of opposing hitters, the favors have not been returned by opposing pitchers. Johnson has racked up the strikeouts on the mound, while being quite stingy with them in the box. Entering Friday's game, he had struck out only three times this spring, hitting .484 with 17 RBIs, one home run and 13 runs.

It’s not that Johnson is looking for walks, or is incredibly disciplined at the plate; he likes to swing the bat. No, it’s more that he knows what he’s watching when he looks 60 feet, 6 inches away.

"I just think it helps being a pitcher first, and then a hitter, just recognizing the count, anticipating what pitch is coming and reading it out of the pitcher’s hand," Johnson said. "I try to think, ‘If I was on the mound, what would I throw here?’ That's really helped me at the plate, because let’s say I’m 0-2, I'm going to be expecting a breaking ball, and then I'll get it. It’s easy for me to pick up and lay off if it's in the dirt or, if it's hanging, to swing."