Frank Herrmann

Frank Herrmann - Right-handed Pitcher
Age: 23 Height: 6'4" Weight: 220 Bats: Left Throws: Right

	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	BB9	K9	WHIP
2007 Kinston	11	5	4.01	26	26	0	146.0	163	65	15	28	88	1.73	5.42	1.31
Career	15	11	3.99	52	52	0	268.3	285	119	23	75	177	2.52	5.94	1.34

History: The Indians found a hidden gem in 2004 with undrafted free agent outfielder Brian Barton, and it appears that lightning has struck twice with Herrmann. An economics major at Harvard, Herrmann went undrafted and was signed by the Indians in August of 2005. In Herrmann's debut season in 2006 he went 4-6 with a 3.90 ERA in 26 starts for Single-A Lake County, and he used his success in Lake County as a stepping stone into last season in Kinston. At Kinston last year, Herrmann was named to the Carolina League All Star team.

Strengths & Opportunities: Herrmann is a physically imposing pitcher, armed with a power sinking fastball that sits in the low-90s, slurvy breaking ball and decent changeup that has good movement. The key to Herrmann's success is his bulldog mentality and his intelligence in coming up with a good game plan to attack hitters. At times he can be too quick to the plate which can lead to him leaving the ball up in the zone, but he is a consistent strike thrower and he pitches to contact. Herrmann is also very durable, and he saw his velocity increase some last season as he was topping out as high as 93 MPH many times late in the season and averaging 91-92 on the radar gun, whereas in 2006 he only averaged 90 MPH.

The Indians felt Herrmann showed a lot of improvement in 2007. When he came into the organization, he was very raw and the Indians had to break him down by completely re-developing his delivery and overhauling his four pitch mix to a more simplified three pitch mix of a fastball, slider and changeup. He was also more a collapse, drop and drive guy when he came into the organization, but the refined delivery got him to stay taller in 2007. Last season at Kinston, the focus was mostly on continuing to refine his delivery and how he attacked hitters. While he is comfortable throwing his changeup to lefties, he continues to work on throwing his changeup in on right-handers. He also worked on throwing his two-seam fastball in on right-handers to get them off the plate.

His strength, durability and ability to throw strikes are definitely key assets for him where even with average stuff he could be a solid backend of the rotation innings eater in the majors. Ultimately, what will separate him from being a long term bullpen guy or staying a starter is the development of his breaking ball. Herrmann has dedicated the offseason to working on the pitch. Herrmann is a fly-ball pitcher (0.87 G/F ratio in 2007 and 1.05 G/F ratio in 2006), and doesn't miss many bats (5.94 career K/9), so it will be interesting to see how he does as he moves up to Double-A and beyond.

Outlook: Herrmann was actually heavily recruited coming out of high school as a football player to play quarterback and safety, and at Harvard he was supposed to play both football and baseball but ended up just playing baseball because of the demands academically. All signs point to him making an address change to Akron to start the year and staying in the starting rotation.

Video: Herrmann on the mound

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