Five-year-old Keon Johnson sat in the backseat of his mother’s car as they drove past Mercer University en route to their home in Macon, Georgia. Although this path was nothing new, something different caught Johnson’s eye that day – a baseball game.
As a family who had revolved around football, Johnson was amused at the sight of swinging bats and catching balls and asked his mother to pull over.
“I got out of the car, I watched the guys play, and I was like to [my mom], ‘Do you think that I could go play the sport at any level one day?’’’ Johnson said. “And she was like, ‘Dude, do whatever you put your mind to. I’ll be right here. I will figure out a way.’”
Twelve years later, and Johnson’s passion for the game has only grown bigger.
Johnson, now a junior at First Presbyterian Day High School, is the No. 1 player in Georgia’s 2026 class and is predicted to be a top pick in the 2026 MLB draft. He is committed to play at Vanderbilt University upon graduating high school.
Johnson finished his sophomore season batting .434 with 36 hits, 34 RBIs and six home runs. Just one month into his junior season, he recorded his 100th career hit – with a home run– achieving a milestone that many high school ball players dream of.
Johnson’s first experience with Mercer baseball, however, was not his last.
When Mercer’s annual baseball summer camp came around, the then 8-year-old wanted nothing more but to be in attendance. At the time, Johnson’s mother, Sheena King Mingo, was battling cancer, and the family didn’t have the financial means to pay for much besides her treatments.
Mingo pulled together enough money for one week of camp for her son. But when the second week of the camp came around, she didn’t have the funds. However, the Mercer coaching staff didn’t let that prevent Johnson from coming back to camp – rather they gave him a scholarship to come to the next two weeks of camp for free.
“I’m just blessed in the fact that I was one of those guys that still had the opportunity like everybody else,” Johnson said. “Because it’s no surprise today [that] if I didn’t have opportunities and people that believed in me, I wouldn’t be where I am right now.”
Today, Johnson often provides baseball tips and tricks to kids who also have a love for the game. When parents offer him money in exchange for these lessons, he humbly declines the offer, acknowledging that he wants to pour into these kids the same way that he was poured into.
“It’s a blessing in itself because I can give free gyms to younger kids, knowing that I was once in their position,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s story, however, can’t be told without the resilience of his mom.
Despite Mingo’s battles, she always wanted one thing for her son – for him to be happy. She recognized his love for the game at an early age and did everything in her power to help him achieve his goals. Even today, Mingo rarely misses Johnson’s games.
When he gets the chance, Johnson proudly wears the number “34” on his back to represent his birth month, March, and his mom’s, April.
“3-4 is kind of the symbolism of our bond and our tight connection,” Johnson said.
Although he’ll have to leave his mom when it comes time to head to college, Johnson has found comfort in the fact that the coaching staff and team at Vanderbilt will become his second family.
“[Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin and I] had a 40-minute talk that turned into 55 minutes,” Johnson said. “And I kid you not, we didn’t talk about baseball one time in that meeting. And that’s when I knew, this guy’s a father figure. This guy is going to be with me when I’m at my lowest.”
But the reality is that Johnson may not ever step foot onto Vanderbilt’s campus. Though it’s still over a year away, Johnson could very well be a first-round pick in the 2026 MLB draft and forgo his time in college altogether.
“Even if the draft doesn’t work out my senior year, I’ll still have college in my back pocket,” Johnson said. “I can go there for three years and know that I am going to produce and be a first-round draft pick in three years.”
But for now, he chooses to be right where his feet are – in Macon, Georgia, where a little boy’s dream to play baseball turned into a reality.
