North Side Baseball

Meet Todd Johnson

“Cubs Central”

 

About Me

Message from Todd Johnson

In the real world, I teach US History, Geography, and World History and I write about prospects in my spare time. I am also into photography and you will see those pics from time to time on this site. I live about 20 minutes SW of Rockford with my wife Anne and our four pups.

 

Recent Articles from Todd Johnson

North Side Bound Roundtable – Who Will Be the Comeback Player of the Year in 2023?

North Side Bound Roundtable – Who Will Be the Comeback Player of the Year in 2023?

Christian Franklin - Pic by Stephanie Lynn When selecting a comeback player of the year, most people tend to gravitate towards pitchers, as they are an easy mark. But that’s not always the case. The Cubs had several prospects who were position players who struggled...

North Side Bound Roundtable – Who Did We Predict to Be the 2023 Reliever of the Year in the Cubs System?

North Side Bound Roundtable – Who Did We Predict to Be the 2023 Reliever of the Year in the Cubs System?

Jake Reindl - Picture by Todd Johnson Last year went well when it came to predicting the Reliever of the Year. This year might be a little bit more difficult because there are some arms who could be coming back from injury who could return to form. We also have some...

North Side Bound Roundtable – Who Did We Predict to Be the 2023 Starting Pitcher of the Year in the Cubs System?

North Side Bound Roundtable – Who Did We Predict to Be the 2023 Starting Pitcher of the Year in the Cubs System?

Porter Hodge - Picture by Todd Johnson We are getting closer and closer to opening day for the minor-league season. Iowa kicks off this Friday, Myrtle Beach, and Tennessee debut on Thursday the 6th, and South Bend starts the festivities on Friday the 7th. We’ve been...

Lance Brozdowski and Jim Callis Compare Top Lists on “The Road to Wrigley” and Lance’s Top 10 Has Several Surprises

Lance Brozdowski and Jim Callis Compare Top Lists on “The Road to Wrigley” and Lance’s Top 10 Has Several Surprises

One of the best things that the Marquee Sports Network (MSN) does is "the Road to Wrigley" prospect show. Over the last year, Lance Brozdowski and Elise Menaker have been joined by MLB Pipeline's Jim Callis a few times. That has added an extra set of eyes to discuss...

North Side Bound Roundtable – Who Did We Predict to Be the 2023 Hitter of the Year in the Cubs System?

North Side Bound Roundtable – Who Did We Predict to Be the 2023 Hitter of the Year in the Cubs System?

Kevin Alcantara - Picture by Stephanie Lynn Thanks for coming back to our preseason extravaganza at North Side Bound. Over the past we predicted who we thought would lead statistical categories in hitting, starting pitching, and relieving. Now, we shift gears to some...

The Weekly – Injuries, 26-Man Roster, Farm System Rankings, Draft Info, and a Big Time Jam

The Weekly – Injuries, 26-Man Roster, Farm System Rankings, Draft Info, and a Big Time Jam

The more that this week went on, the more the speed of news coming out increased. I felt by Friday I was struggling to keep up and that I thought I might have to cut some information out if a lot more news dropped on Saturday. Thankfully, that did not happen as I was...

North Side Bound’s Preseason All-Star Team – Part 2: High End Arms Dominate the List

North Side Bound’s Preseason All-Star Team – Part 2: High End Arms Dominate the List

Daniel Palencia - Pic by Todd Johnson We decided to do something different this year. Rather than have a full six-man rotation and eight bullpen guys, we decided to shorten it up to just five starters and three relievers, mostly back end closers. Starting Pitchers Our...

North Side Bound’s Preseason All-Star Team: Part 1 – The Hitters Are Going to Be Hitting in 2023

North Side Bound’s Preseason All-Star Team: Part 1 – The Hitters Are Going to Be Hitting in 2023

Pete Crow-Armstrong - Picture by Todd Johnson Now that we have our stat predictions for hitters, starting pitchers, and relievers out of the way, it’s now time to turn your attention to our preseason All-Star team. We are going to break this down into two parts. Today...

North Side Bound Roundtable – Who Did We Predict to Be the 2023 Reliever of the Year in the Cubs System?

North Side Bound Roundtable – Reliever Stat Predictions for 2023

Jake Reindl - picture by Todd Johnson Welcome to part three, the final part, of our preseason statistical prediction series. The past two days we’ve looked at hitters and starting pitchers. Just like the other two posts, it is very hard to select prospects because of...

North Side Bound Roundtable – Lots of Choices to Lead MiLB Starting Pitching Stats in 2023

North Side Bound Roundtable – Lots of Choices to Lead MiLB Starting Pitching Stats in 2023

Porter Hodge - Picture by Todd Johnson With Hayden Wesneski set to make the 26-man roster, that’s going to limit some of the guys who we thought would be some statistical leaders for starting pitchers in the Cubs system this summer. We could probably add Javier Assad...