Brisbane’s John Lemm signs with St. Louis Cardinals

The resilience that first emerged on Brisbane’s junior baseball fields has taken Johnny Lemm all the way to Major League Baseball.

After overcoming a late growth spurt, Covid setbacks and time on the bench during his early college career in America, the former Windsor Royals catcher has signed with the St. Louis Cardinals.

In a sport where players are often defined as either a hitter or a defensive specialist, the 23-year-old has carved out a rare reputation for being a brilliant catcher.

He earned a deal with the Cardinals as an undrafted free agent after helping the University of Alabama reach its first men’s college World Series since 1999.

Former Baseball Queensland performance pathway manager and Lemm’s teenage coach Shayne Watson still remembers the first time he saw the Narangba product as a 12-year-old.

“Johnny showed signs of good athleticism, good arm strength and a great work ethic since he was 12-years-old,” Watson said.

“He just absolutely loved playing the game. He had the drive to continue his baseball journey beyond our junior programs.”

That journey was anything but straightforward.

Like many young Australian prospects, Lemm’s development was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with cancelled tournaments and lost opportunities limiting exposure to American scouts.

Watson said Lemm’s physical development also came later than many of his peers, testing his patience through Queensland’s elite pathway.

“His attributes obviously came through at a later teenage age when he was 16 or 17,” Watson said.

“So to see him pursue that developmental journey as a teenager was good to observe. It was a credit to his resilience as he was coming through the program.”

Lemm also benefited from a multi-sport upbringing, playing rugby and cricket before taking up baseball as a summer sport, helping develop the athleticism and game awareness that would later become his trademark.

Breaking into professional baseball from Australia remains one of the toughest feats in world sport, with geographical isolation, financial barriers and limited opportunities separating local talent from the American system.

At 19, Lemm boarded a plane alone for the United States, having only visited the country once before on a family holiday.

His planned recruiting trip had been cancelled by covid, leaving him to arrive at New Mexico Junior College without knowing what to expect.

His first season ended in frustration after sitting on the sidelines without playing, before being told he was unlikely to play the following year because an experienced Division I catcher was transferring into the program.

Ready to give up on baseball, Lemm instead transferred to South Suburban Community College in Illinois, where his career began to flourish.

He became a reliable hitter, recording a hit in about one out of every three trips to the plate across two seasons before earning a move to Southern Illinois. Making most of the opportunity, he smashed 19 home runs, drove in 56 runs and claimed All-Missouri Valley Conference Second Team honours.

That breakout campaign earned interest from some of America’s biggest college programs before Lemm chose Alabama.

In his lone season with the Crimson Tide, he appeared in 58 games, hit 10 home runs, drove in 34 runs and helped Alabama return to the College World Series for the first time in 27 years.

One of the standouts was him belting a home run against Texas on college baseball’s biggest stage.

For Coach Watson, the most rewarding part of Lemm’s journey hasn’t just been the professional contract, but witnessing his personal transformation.

Seeing Lemm return home to work out with the Brisbane Bandits last summer, Shane was struck by how much his former player had matured.

“You see him go from a young kid into a teenager, into a young man, and then to a grown baseball player,” Watson said, calling the reunion one of his fondest memories.

Now, after years of perseverance and thousands of kilometres from where it all began, the Brisbane catcher has achieved the dream shared by countless young Australian baseballers — a chance to wear the Cardinals uniform.

After Lemm, Sydney’s Jimmy Nati has become the latest Australian to land a Major-league Baseball opportunity after signing an affiliates deal with the Kansas City Royals.

The former Ryde baseball junior has followed in the footsteps of close friend and former junior rival Travis Bazzana, inking an affiliates deal with the MLB outfit.

Nati, a specialist infielder, spent four years in the US college system at Stanford University and earned ACC All-Academic team honours twice.

While he went ungrafted in this month’s 2026 MLB Draft, the Royals wasted little time securing him as a free agent.

Nati has reported to the Royals minor league facility in Surprise, Arizona and is expected to be assigned to one of the team’s affiliate minor league teams.

Nati became the 27th Australian currently contracted to a major league franchise, joining the likes of Brent Iredale (Pittsburgh Pirates), Kailen Hamson (Baltimore Orioles) and Johnny Lemm (St Louis Cardinals).