Chris Herrmann - 2014

[Shane Wahl]

Name: Chris Herrmann

Position: LF/RF/C/1B

Hand: Left

Height: 6'0"

Weight: 200

DOB: November 24, 1987

POB: Tomball, Texas

Shane's prospect rank: NA (already graduated)

2014 start: essentially MLB

 

2013 statistics (MLB): 178 plate appearances, .204/.286/.325 (.611), 7 doubles, 0 triples, 4 homers, 18 walks, 49 strikeouts, 0 stolen bases, 1 time caught stealing

 

Herrmann fills a potential "mega" utility role for the Twins by being able to catch, play corner OF, and first base, and also potentially emergency fill-in at 3B and in CF. Perhaps most importantly, he is insurance on the roster for the Suzuki-Pinto duo to both be in the lineup for Gardenhire.

 

The one offensive aspect to like about Herrmann's 2013 performance for the Twins was that his walk rate reminded one of most of his minor league career before AAA. His ISO-D of .82, and ISO-P of .121 mean that if he can strike out less and make more contact (true for every young Twins hitter right now), he will be a valuable utility player with a .675-.715 potential OPS.

[Lonestar]

Didn't Hermann play a lot of 3B at the U (Miami, that is)? How is his 3B defense?

[Shane Wahl]

Didn't Hermann play a lot of 3B at the U (Miami, that is)? How is his 3B defense?

 

Undoubtedly quite rusty. He's quick enough on his feet and has a good arm, though. Only to happen in rather extreme game situations though (multiple injuries, extended extra innings).

[Lonestar]

Undoubtedly quite rusty. He's quick enough on his feet and has a good arm, though. Only to happen in rather extreme game situations though (multiple injuries, extended extra innings).

I'm guessing that the Twins wanted him to focus on catching in the minors and play the OF to give other catchers innings so they didn't have him work at 3B. Could it be time for him to work on it again? That would make him a super utility fielder.

 

Besides his penchant for an 8th reliever and a 3rd catcher, Gardy has a jones for 2 futility IF's (witness Bartlett). If Herrmann can catch AND play 3B, the Twins have addressed two of those.

[Shane Wahl]

Back in AAA, Herrmann has produced. In 32 plate appearances he has a .400/.438/.667 (1.104) slash, 3 doubles, a triple, and a homer. It would be nice to see him get some of his punch back from 2012. He put up nice numbers in AA then and has yet to show it at AAA (and beyond, obviously).

[Shane Wahl]

Herrmann will be getting some CF time in Rochester, according to Gardenhire. This is an interesting development, but isn't all that surprising. They must really, really like Herrmann for this to go down. When Sam Fuld proves to be only an injury liability/defensive replacement in not-CF, the Twins will need someone else to backup Hicks once again.

 

And dear god and a half . . . Gardenhire is sitting Pinto again instead of DHing him or catching him instead of Suzuki. This is atrocious managing and must be a product of Gardenhire's weird paranoia about catching injuries and losing the DH.

 

Anyway, Herrmann batting 8th in tonight's Rochester lineup. The terrible Brad Nelson is batting 5th. I continue to marvel at how the minor league teams misuse prospects and players with major league fringe potential.

 

Also, it is interesting that the Twins don't just promote another of my adoptees, Danny Ortiz, to play CF in Rochester. I mean he is an outfielder and he does have much more experience in CF than Herrmann does. He is also smacking the ball currently and is two years younger than Herrmann.

[Shane Wahl]

Herrmann's 2014 AAA season:

 

.345/.362/.491 (.853) in 58 plate appearances. He will remain on the fringe for the time being. It isn't clear that anyone other than Eric Fryer is in favor enough in the organization to compete for that up-and-down call-up spot.

[Shane Wahl]

102 plate appearances:

 

.319/.363/.489 (.852), 7 doubles, 3 triples, and 1 home run. Herrmann is maintaining a very good OPS at AAA right now. That is an encouraging sign for the future, especially if the Twins decide to shop Suzuki (which they obviously should).

[Shane Wahl]

133 plate appearances and Herrmann's OPS has climbed to .892 (.314/.383/.508). He is slugging a good number of doubles. His catching has been solid in AAA and I think it is about time to replace Eric Fryer, who, contrary to TR's wild fantasies about last offseason, is not good.

[Shane Wahl]

Herrmann is back with the Twins after the DLing of Nolasco. He is not really much worse defensively, overall, than Fryer, and his bat might be alive now. Clearly Deduno cannot be the real solution to Nolasco, so we will see what the team does here. I think it is appropriate to swap out Fryer for Darnell very, very soon.

[Shane Wahl]

Herrmann is back to the 7-day DL.

 

.882 OPS in 134 plate appearances in Rochester. I would really like to see Herrmann back behind the plate to support the Josmil Pinto era (which means . . .. please trade Suzuki for a prospect).

[Shane Wahl]

In 155 plate appearances for New Britain, Herrmann has posted an .838 OPS and is now splitting time between catching and RF. For what it's worth, he has thrown out 40% of runners this year, keeping with his minor league average.

[Shane Wahl]

176 plate appearances in Rochester and his OPS is up to .860. Yesterday he homered and doubled in the first game of the double header. Herrmann looks to finally be developing that doubles power.

[Shane Wahl]

OPS up to .877. A double in one out of about every 13 plate appearances. Herrmann is doing everything he can to warrant a return to the Twins in September.