39.19 A Post-Bobby Lynch Jackrabbits Future #8 Jamie Herrera

[crobillard]

In a similar box as Keijo Reini, Jamie Herrera could be really good someday, but only if he develops and that development is looking less likely with each passing sim. He's nearly 22 years old and he's fourteen points away from his potentials. Most of those are in pitches, but he needs to improve his stuff to ever have a chance of making it to the bigs. I'm excited about him though and that's why I listed him at number 8.

He was a beast in high school, throwing 140 innings over 28 starts with a 2.76 ERA only 122 hits and striking out 195 batters for a 12.5 K/9 ratio and a 5.7 WAR. This lead to Herrera being selected by the Hawaii Tropics with the 37th overall pick in round 2 in 2035. He was selected with 2/5/2 actual ratings and 6/6/6 potentials. His first season in Rookie league saw him working as a closer in only 17 innings, to good success with 11 saves, 17 hits allowed, five earned runs, only one homerun allowed and 13 strikeouts.

The next season he was promoted to Small A, started in six games and saw 36.2 innings of work. He had a 2.21 ERA, only allowed 31 hits, but also only struck out 24 batters which foreshadowed some of the struggles he would have in his development later on. He was promoted to A ball early in 2036 and continued his reign of terror on batters with a 2.81 ERA in 19 starts, pitching in 125 innings with 116 hits allowed and his strike out issues became even more glaring with only 49 batters whiffing at the plate.

The next season he got a repeat in A ball so he could get that stuff up. At this point he was rated 3/5/5 in actuals and started to lump in potentials with 7/5/5 potentials. He got a bump in velocity though to 93-95 from 92-94 when he was drafted. Opponents ended up scoring more runs on him in 2037, but it was clear Herrera was improving with a 3.81 ERA in 22 starts 132.1 innings pitched, allowing 138 hits, 16 homeruns, only 19 walks and fanning 77 batters. He was promoted to AA briefly that year, but only pitched in four starts of 20.2 innings and allowed 10 runs.

As 2038 kicked off, Herrera saw remarkable improvement. He was in AA the entire year and pitched in 27 starts with 181.1 innings pitched with a 4.12 ERA, 190 hits allowed, 28 homeruns, only 33 walks and struck out 75. Again, those strike out issues plagued him. Through that year he bumped up to 3/6/6 actuals with 9/6/6 potentials and bumped his velocity again up to 94-96. However, at 20 years old though, was it too late for Herrera to realize his potential?

Spring training of this year kicked off and Herrera saw his Stuff bumped to 4 in the offseason. He was also named the 69th best prospect in the BBA. He started out the year in Hawaii's AA affiliate again and pitched his way to a 3.18 ERA in 11 starts for 70.2 innings, allowing 61 hits, six homeruns, 18 walks and stepping up his strikeouts to 49. He bumped to 5/6/6 actuals and 9/6/6 potentials at this point and he was selected for the AA All Star game. The day before the All Star game he was included in a trade that sent him to Edmonton along with one other player, that I will talk about later in this series, in exchange for OF Luis Costello. Upon joining the team, he was sent to AAA Winnipeg and this season saw his first real challenge. He was 6-3 in AAA with a 4.63 ERA in 14 starts that he threw 91.1 innings in, allowing 95 hits, 14 homeruns, 25 walks and striking out 36, crashing that K/9 once again. In August he saw his first regression down to a 5 movement in actuals and potentials and is now rated 5/5/6 with 9/5/6 potentials. His fastball is solid at a 9, his curveball is a 6/9, but he has the dreaded changeup that needs to be his money pitch and that's only 4/11.

He'll be 22 years old at the start of next year. It's not too late for him yet, but he might need some help. I'm also flirting with the idea of sticking him in the bullpen and seeing if that can provide him some kind of kick start. That changeup might prevent him for ever being anything truly dominating. He could be a good pitcher if he fills out. Probably a mid rotation arm. He's also durable, despite a few nagging injuries in the minors. I suppose he could be ready next season if he sees a huge bump during the offseason, but I think it's more likely that he spends next season in AAA and hopes for a 2041 debut.

[RonCo]

Here's a guy who I wonder how much he'd benefit from having a coach oriented toward power pitchers. In a way, he reminds me of Ernesto Ramos--who had a quite slow development path for me (that included a changeup coming in over time and a circle change that is still "growing" at age 24).

[crobillard]

Here's a guy who I wonder how much he'd benefit from having a coach oriented toward power pitchers. In a way, he reminds me of Ernesto Ramos--who had a quite slow development path for me (that included a changeup coming in over time and a circle change that is still "growing" at age 24).

I was thinking the same thing actually. I have a hall of fame coach in my minors that might be able to help him. I may drop him in AAA and see if he can help some of these pitching prospects out.