THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE, Nov. 9, 2014

He was almost unhittable by the Pirates, Nationals, Cardinals and Royals in this year's major league baseball playoffs.

But Madison Bumgarner was no big deal to Kyle Johnson.

OK, that's a bit of a stretch.

Yes, it was during a spring training game in 2013, when Johnson was still in the Angels' organization, and Bumgarner was coming off the second of what has become three World Series titles in five seasons with the Giants.

Mad Bum, as he has become known, was undoubtedly working on things in spring training, and Johnson, the former Lake City High and Washington State standout, who is now at the AA level in the Mets' organization, singled and doubled off his in two at bats.

More importantly, at least from Johnson's perspective, is that some of the players in this year's World Series are guys he has competed against in the minors.

From the Giants, that would be second baseman Joe Panik and reliever Hunter Strickland, whom he played against this season, when he was playing in Binghamton, N.Y., and they were with the Giants' AA squad in Richmond.

"I know quite a few guys, and you're kind of getting to that point where you're getting close (to the majors)," Johnson said the other day, back in the Coeur d'Alene area for this portion of his offseason. "Guys that you came up with are starting to get shots at the big leagues. It's kind of refreshing, because you feel like you're right on the cusp of it, where something can happen at any moment."

For the record, Johnson got a hit off of the hard-throwing Strickland this year in AA, in his only at bat against him.

JOHNSON IS coming off an all-star season for the Binghamton Mets. In 359 at bats, the outfielder hit .259 with four homers and 39 RBIs. Johnson had 25 doubles and four triples, and stole 12 bases in 21 tries.

Playing center and left field early in the season, then left and right field later in the year, the 6-foot, 180-pound Johnson led the Mets' minor league system in outfield assists with 14. One month, he was named defensive player of the month in the Mets' minor league system.

Known more for his speed, Johnson attributed the assists to the Mets organization's throwing program.

"I'd always had an OK arm," Johnson said. "The throwing program with the Mets ... it's different than any other throwing program I'd done.

"What they like you do is when you're playing catch before the game, when you get to long toss, they don't like you just to throw the ball as high as you can, as far as you can. Once you get out past 120 feet, they want everything to be level with your head, and they want you to bounce it, so everything's a one-hop to your catch partner.

"I think that really helped with my accuracy and arm strength, because I wasn't just trying to throw the ball as far as I could."

He said he hit well in the first half of the season, and in part through Internet voting, played in the Eastern League all-star game in Altoona, Pa.

He said he "got into a funk" hitting wise after the all-star break, but finished strong as Binghamton made the playoffs.

There, the Mets beat Portland (Maine) in a five-game series, then swept Richmond in three games in the championship series.

"Just winning an Eastern League championship was incredible," Johnson said. "Our core players were there all year, there wasn't a lot of movement (up and down the system), so we were able to gel together a little bit better than you typically see in a minor league season."

As a junior at Lake City, Johnson was a wide receiver on the Timberwolves' state 5A football title team in 2006. The next spring, as an outfielder, he helped Lake City win a state baseball title.

"It reminded me a lot of the football and baseball experience I had in high school, but times about 10," Johnson said. "The Mets are good about their farm system; they want them to win. There's development in there, but they want to develop winners. (The Mets figure) if you can develop winners, that's going to translate into big league wins."

AFTER HIS season ended in mid-September, Johnson took some time off, then spent about six weeks training with WSU, which was going through fall ball. These days, he's training with Bud Rasmussen and offering hitting lessons to local players, from Little League age through high school (info: kylejohnsontraining.blogspot.com), as well as offering advice to parents about the process of playing college ball and beyond.

"Having done that, I know what it takes, and what you have to do to get to that level," said Johnson, who turns 25 today.. "When I got my scholarship (to WSU), I had no idea what it meant; I was learning on the fly."

Johnson is hoping to play winter ball, in a league in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic or Venezuela, but only a limited number of imports (basically, U.S. players) are allowed per team.

If that doesn't work out, he said he'll keep working out, getting ready for Mets spring training in February in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

"I'm going into my Rule 5 year," said Johnson, meaning at the end of the season, the Mets would have to put him on their 40-man roster, to protect him from other teams. If not, he could be selected by another team in the Rule 5 draft.

Johnson said he wouldn't mind being promoted to the Mets' AAA team, in part because it is in Las Vegas, the closer for family and friends to watch him play. But these days, he said, players get called up to the big leagues from AA just as easily as from AAA.

"This is our big year," said Johnson, who was a 25th-round draft choice of the Angels in 2012, then was traded to the Mets the following year. "If I have a good year, I'll put myself in a good situation to make an impact. I think this year I have a shot to get some big league time, and make that push."

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.