PROSPECT BEAT 45.2: Sergio Herrera, $1.25M Bonus Baby

[RonCo]

Off Topic

Travelblog of Thom S. Hunter

Editor’s Note: This is a running blog that will cover minor league players in the Yellow Springs organization. We initiated it because this kid reporter was hired without my knowledge, and we needed to do something with him. He seems flaky to me. Seems like a waste of good cash. But what do I know? Good luck.


July 6, 2045: CAT ISLAND – I’ve been hanging around Cat Island for a while now, and I admit I kind of like it. It’s got this weird vibe that mixes up equal parts of laid-back Island life, corporate cash, Mikki-Luc pop-culture mecca, and off-island voo-doo. In other words, there’s a lot going on under the surface that you can contemplate while sitting in a chaise lounge and sipping a never-ending stream of margaritas. Not that I would do that. Too often.

There’s also baseball.

The Cat Island Pirates play here, after all. It’s the home, too, of the annual Yellow Springs Nine executive retreat, where front office warriors retire to after another October non-surprise.

Oh, was that a low blow?

Too soon?

What-the-hell-ever, man. What-the-hell-ever.

Today I’m thinking a lot about Sergio Herrera and what it means to be a prospect. After failing to be drafted by any Podunk team in that baseball Mecca in the middle east last year, Herrera made a million and a quarter bucks simply by saying “yes” to the proposal to come play here. Sounds like good grub if you can get it. I mean, 1.25 mill will buy a lot of margaritas.

He started 16 games last year. Tossed a 6.88 ERA.

That’s a lot of ERA for 1.25 mill, if you ask me.

Still, scouts were happy. “Herrera picked up three miles an hour on his fastball,” one Nine baseball guy said to me when I first got here. “His curve ball is really moving.” Sounds good to me, I thought back then, and I put him on my list of potential favorite pitchers.

You know who else has Sergio Herrera on their list of favorite pitchers?

Hitters in the Angela Drake League, that’s who. To date, Herrera is in his second season in short A ball, and he’s thrown 26.2 innings of 6.07 ERA. Yes, the record stands at 3-3, but I haven’t had enough of my never-ending chain of margaritas yet to enable me to think that a 3-3 record means much when you’re throwing a 6.07 ERA. Yes, yes, Herrera has raised his strike-out rate from 7.5/9 to 10.8/9. His walk rate is down from 6.5 to 4.7/9. Great. The point right now is that he’s still giving up runs by the katamaranload.

At 18, who can say what’s in his future. Scouts keep pointing to him and saying 7/7/8, 98, as if that seems to mean he’d be pretty good. Some talk about Silver Springs for him, which would mean a promotion of sorts. All I can say for sure is that it seems to me these scouts would be better severed if they took in another margarita or two, might bend their twig in another direction, if you know what I mean.

I mean, who am I to complain about nepotism or some other sort of reason for getting a gig someplace, right? But there's nepotism and there's nepotism. It's hard to see a 6.07 ERA being the ticket to Florida.

[Jwalk100]

I see real improvement in this guy. He has almost doubled his K/BB and his FIP is 3.20.

I would like to see 50 to 70 more innings of improvement.