Wes Johnson hasn’t had much down time since he arrived in Athens two weeks ago, a couple of days after celebrating a College World Series championship with LSU.

The transfer portal and recruiting demanded his attention and the MLB draft just wrapped up Tuesday.

It’s been sunrise to sunset work days.

No, he hasn’t started looking for a house just yet, but has managed to grab some meals in Athens.

“I’ve been to Chuck’s (Fish) a couple of times,” Johnson said. “A lot of Chipotle and Chick-fil-A is all I’ve got time to eat right now.”

He carved out time to talk Wednesday morning about how he’s shaping the program as the Bulldogs' new head coach after an impactful season as pitching coach at LSU.

MLB draft’s impact on Georgia baseball roster

Georgia didn’t take heavy losses in the MLB draft with lefty pitchers Jaden Woods going in the seventh round to the Pirates and Liam Sullivan in the 13^th to the Nationals. Johnson said both will sign.

Three transfer commitments are also signing, he said: outfielder Joe Redfield from Sam Houston State in the fourth round to the Angels (with a $603,600 approximate value, per MLB.com), catcher Weston Eberly from Columbia to the White Sox in the 16^th round and pitcher Derek True of Cal Poly in the 18^th round to the Astros.

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Georgia players Parks Harber, Corey Collins and Fernando Gonzalez went undrafted and could return.

“We’re not out of the woods on that yet,” he said. “I know they’ve fielded some calls from some teams.”

UGA baseball's Twitter account posted Wednesday evening that Collins had decided to return.

Johnson said the freshmen class has arrived on campus.

He mentioned four players based off “power scouting” them on video that could make noise early: middle infielder Trey King, a left-handed hitter, from McIntosh High; infielder Trey Phelps from Georgia Career Academy in Statesboro; and pitchers James Hays from The Westfield School in Hawksinville and Ethan Sutton from Allatoona High.

Georgia Bulldogs replenishing roster through transfer portal

The Bulldogs are adding 11 players and counting out of the transfer portal.

“We needed to not only improve but add some depth,” Johnson said. “I think we did a good job of that. Just from a positional standpoint, to make sure you’re able to come in and put a really, really good offensive club out there. I think we’ve done that. You never know what’s going to happen in the next 48 hours with free agent signing with some of these guys.”

The list includes Baylor freshman All-American shortstop Kolby Branch (.325, 6 HR, 41 RBI); Mississippi State third baseman/first baseman Slate Alford (.248, 9HR, 36 RBI); Purdue third-team All-Big Ten second baseman Paul Toetz (333, 10 HR, 53 RBI); outfielders Clayton Chadwick from Sam Houston State (.294-10-49), Logan Jordan from Campbell (.301, 12 HR, 52 RBI), John Marant from College of Central Florida (.434, 15 HR, 70 RBI) and Dylan Goldstein from Florida Atlantic (.297, 13 HR, 62 RBI). There’s also Western Kentucky first baseman/outfielder Luke Farris (.291, 13 HR, 43 RBI) who is coming off shoulder surgery and catcher Henry Hunter (.166-3-21).

“We’ve got guys that not only just have a lot of raw power, but bat-to-ball skills,” he said. “That helps limit your strikeouts.”

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Johnson, a former pitching coach with the Minnesota Twins who coached No. 1 overall draft pick Paul Skenes this past season, has two transfer pitchers so far in Brian Zeldin from Penn (2-1. 3.74 ERA) and Daniel Padysak from Charleston Southern (2-1, 3.19, 3 saves) who represented the Czech Republic in the World Baseball Classic.

“Just guys that are going to come in and have slow heart rates when the game’s on the line,” Johnson said.

Wes Johnson on his first Georgia baseball coaching staff

The coaching staff is complete with the addition of Josh Simpson who came with Johnson from LSU where he was director of baseball operations. He was a scout in the Texas Rangers organization and before that head coach at New Mexico Junior College.

“Josh Simpson is just an absolute machine when it comes to recruiting and just his connections from his scouting days,” Johnson said. “He’s running point with all of our recruiting now with our 2024s and 2025s.

He’s joined on staff by Will Coggin who came from Kentucky and holdover Georgia coach Brock Bennett who moved up to the third assistant position.

“I re-interviewed him after I got the job,” Johnson said of the former volunteer coach. “He’s just a really good baseball coach and he knows a lot of people in the state and that obviously helps when you’re coming in from a recruiting standpoint to have that guy.”

Simpson and Bennett have been on the road recruiting

Georgia released salaries last week for two of the new assistants. Coggin will make $230,000 a year and Bennett $70,000.

Johnson called Coggin, who he was on staff with at Mississippi State in 2016, as “the best hitting guy in the SEC.” He cited how Jackson Gray went from hitting .203 at Western Kentucky in 2022 to leading the Wildcats last season at .338. Kentucky was tied for third in the SEC in hitting.

“He attacks hitting the same way I attack pitching,” Johnson said.

Charlie Goldstein and the Georgia pitching staff

Holding onto national freshman of the year Charlie Condon was big but so was reeling pitcher Charlie Goldstein back after he put his name in the transfer portal.

Goldstein allowed just one run with 19 strikeouts with two wins in three straight late season starts against top 10 teams Kentucky, Florida and Arkansas. He was 3-2 with a 5.04 ERA on the season.

“We just talked development,” Johnson said. “Charlie was a guy yesterday that was getting some calls late in the draft. …I think Charlie really got excited about some things we were talking to him about as far as bringing these guys in and creating a culture that he wanted to be a part of.”

Candidates to start also include Kolten Smith (2-3, 5.26 ERA), Jarvis Evans (2-0, 4.71 ERA) and Chandler Marsh (1-3. 5.46) who made his first start Tuesday night in the Cap Cod League, and Leighton Finley (2-2, 6.26). Zeldin is a possible starter.

“Some of those guys are going to have an opportunity to come in and grab a spot,” Johnson said.

And Johnson said, “the pitchers we’ve added I’m really excited about but we’ll continue to add a few more.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: How transfer portal and MLB draft impacts Georgia baseball & Wes Johnson