Indians Top 100 Prospects: #36 Frank Herrmann

36. Frank Herrmann - Right-handed Pitcher
Born: 05/30/1984 - Height: 6'4" - Weight: 220 - Bats: Left - Throws: Right

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	BB/9	K/9	WHIP
2006	22	Lake County	A	4	6	3.90	26	26	0	122.1	122	53	8	47	89	3.5	6.5	1.38
2007	23	Kinston	A+	11	5	4.01	26	26	0	146.0	163	65	15	28	88	1.7	5.4	1.31
2008	24	Kinston	A+	0	0	11.81	1	1	0	5.1	8	7	1	1	4	1.7	6.8	1.69
	24	Akron	AA	11	6	4.10	23	23	0	131.2	142	60	9	36	86	2.5	5.9	1.35
	24	Buffalo	AAA	0	2	1.38	2	2	0	13.0	11	2	1	6	14	4.2	9.7	1.31
		Career		26	19	4.02	78	78	0	418.1	446	187	34	118	281	2.5	6.0	1.35

History:  An economics major at Harvard, Herrmann went undrafted and was signed by the Indians in August of 2005.  He 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. 

Strengths & Opportunities:  Herrmann is a physically imposing pitcher, armed with a power sinking fastball that sits at 91-92 MPH and tops out at 94 MPH.  He also throws a hard slider and a 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. He may not have the best stuff, but he is an innings eater and just seems to get stronger over the course of a season and deep in games where his velocity is still peaking in the 6th or 7th inning.  The Indians love his exceptional strength, athleticism and durability on the mound, and like his ability to control his fastball to both sides of the plate.  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.  He doesn't miss many bats in that he pitches to contact, and even though he throws his hard sinker he is a fly-ball pitcher (0.69 G/F ratio in 2008, 0.87 G/F in 2007 and 1.05 G/F in 2006). 

Herrmann is extremely intelligent, and his aptitude is off the charts.  He came into the organization very raw and with little understanding of how to "pitch", and in just three seasons he has adjusted well to the professional game and made huge strides in learning the intricacies of pitching.  The Indians also 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 has gotten him to stay taller.   

If Herrmann is able to develop more consistency with his secondary pitches (slider and changeup), he could become a solid middle of the rotation pitcher in the big leagues.  He has always been a pitcher who relied heavily on a fastball-changeup mix and had lacked a good breaking ball as his third pitch until this past season.  He dedicated himself to working on his slider, and it paid off as his slider was reworked from more of a finesse-loopy slurve type pitch to a hard, power slider where it sits down in the zone at 83-84 MPH.  His confidence in his slider has improved and he has become so much more consistent with it that he now has that third pitch to allow him to attack hitters better.  The focus with him is to continue working on his delivery and how he attacks hitters. While he is comfortable throwing his changeup to lefties, he needs more work on throwing his changeup and two-seam fastball in on right-handers to get them off the plate. 

He got a small cup of coffee with Triple-A Buffalo in early July and made the most of the opportunity going 0-2 with a 1.38 ERA in two starts, and was the first Buffalo pitcher to strike out ten batters in a game since right-hander Jason Davis did so on August 12, 2005.  The stop at Buffalo seemed to jumpstart his season as prior to the callup to Buffalo he was 8-3 with a 5.44 ERA in 16 starts between advanced Single-A Kinston and Double-A Akron, but upon going to Buffalo he carried that success with him back to Akron where he finished out the year going 3-5 with a 2.23 ERA in 10 combined starts at Akron and Buffalo.  This past season was the second straight year he has reached double-digit victories as he won 11 games for Kinston in 2007. 

Outlook:  When it comes to consistency in the Indians farm system, Herrmann is at the top of that list.  He has lived up to his nicknames of "Frank the Tank" and "The Herrmannator" because of his ability to eat innings, seemingly never give in, and his durability where he has made exactly 26 starts in each of his three seasons in the organization.  That 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.  He should open the 2009 season in the Triple-A Columbus starting rotation, and is now considered a depth starting option for the big league team. 

Photo courtesy of Ken Carr 

Frank Herrmann MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page 

Frank Herrmann Baseball-Reference page 

Frank Herrmann MinorLeagueSplits.com page 

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