One-thousand, fifty-five days went by between Plum Creek Park home appearances for Concordia University, Nebraska Baseball’s Alex Johnson. If it’s not a college baseball record, it ought to be close. From the end of the 2022 season through the opening of the 2025 campaign, Johnson never lost his will to return to the diamond and ascend to the pitching rubber.
There were trying times for sure, but Johnson speaks with no bitterness in his voice as he recounts the journey. In his mind, he had all he needed to navigate the frustrations: his faith, wife Katelyn, parents Todd and Cindy, family, coaches and teammates. His time would come around again.
“I just love baseball,” Johnson said. “Even during the time I was recovering, I was excited to go to practice and excited to be with my teammates. The community aspect of baseball and the culture at Concordia was something that pushed me. I knew after I had surgery that there was no question that I was going to play baseball again. I just can’t see my life without baseball.”
The performance Johnson put together on March 31, 2025, reminded everyone of just how much talent the Olathe, Kan., native possesses. In making his first home start since the 2022 GPAC Championship Game played in May of 2022, Johnson blew away Briar Cliff hitters over seven shutout innings of two-hit, 13-strikeout ball. Afterwards, Johnson spoke of how grateful he was to simply play ball with his buddies again. He wasn’t fixated on the numbers – but they’re hard to ignore. In his eight starts in 2025, Johnson owns a 1.90 ERA and has racked up 70 strikeouts in 47.1 innings while allowing a paltry .185 opponent batting average.
None of that success comes as a surprise to Head Coach Ryan Dupic or Johnson’s teammates. A healthy Alex Johnson is a dominant force. The “health” part of the equation is what had evaded Johnson during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Johnson made three starts in 2023 before shutting things down. He thought he was on track for a return in 2024 before suffering another setback. Johnson essentially lost two full seasons, what would have been his junior and senior years.
Johnson has typically been slow to recover from outing to outing, but the pain he experienced was more than the normal soreness that comes from a heavy workload. An MRI early in 2023 revealed a sprain severe enough to put him on the shelf. When Johnson attempted to resume throwing following the ’23 season, the pain intensified. Further examination revealed a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in Johnson’s pitching elbow.
Perhaps as frustrating as the pain itself was the uncertainty and bumpy path ahead. Said Dupic, “It’s a hard thing for anybody. You look back at his story and you have to admire his resilience through it all. He just keeps searching for solutions. I think that’s the best way to put it. I think part of what makes him so great – he’s not perfect every time – but he solves problems and figures things out. He can be not his best but then you look up and it’s the sixth or seventh inning and he’s given up one run. Not everybody’s like that. I think it was the same in this situation with the injury. There were so many unknowns. It was really unclear what exactly was going on with his situation. He just kept trying to find solutions.”
In December 2023, the 6-foot-6 right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery with the intention of rehabbing and making it back for 2025. Johnson was forced to come to grips with the idea of facing another baseball season of watching from the dugout. He missed out on Concordia’s national tournament appearances of 2023 and 2024. Both squads would have had a much greater chance of reaching the NAIA World Series (as Concordia did with Johnson in 2021) had Johnson been available. He had become a proven performer in 2022 when he was named First Team All-GPAC. The best was surely yet to come.
“It was unfortunate that I had to miss two years, but I’m very grateful for where I am here today,” Johnson said. “I thank God for the journey He’s put me on. I wish I could have played at Georgia Gwinnett and LSUS (for NAIA opening rounds). I wish I could have pitched in those games, but I learned how to be a good teammate and how to care more than just about how I do on the field. Baseball is an oddly individual team sport. Being able to help everybody and anybody and being able to celebrate the wins our teammates have is something I learned how to do.”
Johnson found ways to stay involved with his teammates despite being sidelined. Johnson opened his door (literally) to teammates for weekly Bible study while continuing to contribute to the culture of Concordia Baseball, a secret sauce that has fueled its success. Johnson brings the same passion to attacking hitters as he does to discussing the Bible and what an identity in Christ can mean for his peers. He even shouts out Zackery Day for helping influence teammates in their faith walks.
At the same time, Johnson kept up with rehabbing his elbow. Whenever he lacked motivation to perform certain exercises meant to strengthen his pitching arm, his wife Katelyn was there to nudge him forward. Alex and Katelyn began dating in high school and married on July 1, 2023. Katelyn wasn’t much of a baseball fan when she first met Alex, but that quickly changed.
“She’s been the driving factor to keep that motivation,” Johnson said. “She made sure I did the forearm movements when I was recovering from surgery. Those are kind of monotonous movements, and you know it’s a 12-month journey ahead to even start being able to throw or play catch again. Funny story is she was willing to go and play catch with me. I did hit her one time, but she was okay. She’s tough. I’m thankful for her to be my catch partner along with my wife. She was just ready to go with it – all right, this is what we’re doing. When we were at the doctor’s office and I didn’t have any more questions, she started ripping off five or six more questions to make sure we understood everything. She’s been awesome. I’m super thankful for her.”
Part of the deal meant moving to Seward. It’s the place Johnson agreed to make his second home when he committed to Concordia the summer prior to his senior year of high school. Dupic first learned of Johnson through his friendship with Luke Town, who founded the Advanced Baseball Academy in Stilwell, Kansas. Johnson came with a high recommendation from Town. The connection spurred a visit to campus that set in motion the next chapter of Johnson’s life.
Johnson actually played more first base than pitcher as a prep for his Spring Hill High School team. But Town recognized that Johnson’s highest potential at the next level would be as a pitcher. Further, Johnson joked of himself that he was a “terrible hitter.”
Says Dupic in recalling Johnson’s recruitment, “We set up a visit and Alex came with a bunch of other guys in his class. We did a workout with them the summer after their junior year. People really flock to Alex. He’s just so respected by other people. He’s always been that way. He committed and then a bunch of his teammates committed after. They were highly impacted by him. It was super clear right away that he was really good.”
Both Dupic and Town were the type of coaches Johnson sought. They are coaches that show appreciation for who their players are as people, not simply for what they can do on a baseball field. Johnson praises both coaches effusively.
“The two biggest things that drew me to Concordia were the Christian values and the fact that Dupic just really cared,” Johnson said. “There were nights my senior year after I had committed where he was still calling me and asking me how I’m doing. He wouldn’t just ask about baseball. He would ask about how I was doing personally and how my family was doing. He cared about me as a person too. I really wanted to be here. It’s a family culture. It’s not just something that gets said, it's the actual truth.”
Johnson would know something about what makes coaches different through his years of playing experience dating back to his youth in Olathe when baseball became one of his first loves (back in the day when brother Ethan and sister Kenzie joined in). Johnson has discussed his preference for transformational rather than transactional coaching. Dupic doesn’t just appreciate Johnson for his fastball and nasty breaking stuff. Okay, that part doesn’t hurt. But the relationship between Dupic and Johnson will carry lasting meaning beyond the strikeouts and shutout innings.
Those are statistics and numbers that Johnson just doesn’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about. He speaks with the type of maturity of someone beyond his years (a married man!). On the mound, he’s going to make his pitches and compete intensely. Most of the time, the results will be satisfying. Sometimes they won’t. Even the best in the game must come to terms with failure.
“I think it’s hard to be super dependent on outcomes, especially in baseball,” Johnson said. “It’s a failure-driven sport. I’ve learned that throughout the years. My main goal was to give God all the glory and to surrender any of the outcomes that come, good or bad. God still loves me. I’ve been given freedom through Jesus Christ.”
Johnson seemingly felt that freedom through his times of trial. How else could he be so at peace with the hand he was dealt? That’s what makes him who he is – someone easy to root for.
“He deserves it,” Dupic said. “For years around here, it was like, ‘man, if we just got Alex back.’ Everybody knows it. All the players knew it. He absolutely deserves this. I’m incredibly proud of him. It’s very fun to throw a guy like him out there. He can beat anybody in the country. When we have him on the mound, we can be as good as anybody. That’s how our guys feel when he pitches for us.”
Uplifting in the way he plays the game and for the way he inspires others to follow Christ, Johnson is just being himself. It’s more than good enough.
Johnson plans to stay the course. His options are open. He could return to Concordia next season, or he could pursue his dream to pitch professionally. Whatever he aspires to do, he’ll be all in. He will remain committed, even if it takes 1,055 days for it to come to fruition.
Says Johnson, “God has given me this ability. It’s within His plan. If one person or a group of people could learn about Jesus through my ability to pitch, I’d rather have that than any success that I’ve had.”