Pinstripe Preview: Ronald Herrera
In one of Brian Cashman's lesser
known moves prior to the 2016 season, the Yankees' General Manager traded second base prospect Jose Pirela to the San Diego Padres for young minor league
pitcher Ronald Herrera.
Photo Credit: Trenton Thunder Media Relations
Herrera is currently listed at
5'11" and 185 pounds and hails from Venezuela. He is a hard throwing right hander who,
despite being only 21 years of age, has already received rave review from
scouts as well as Brian Cashman himself. One such scout has been quoted as
saying this about Herrera:
"He
is a medium-body right-hander who looks generic as hell. The stuff is not
overpowering, but the pitchability and command are both so good. He is so
poised, especially for his age. I love his makeup. I love how he mixes pitches.
He is a big-league starting pitcher."
The Venezuelan righty
has already seen his fastball reach the 94-95 MPH range and MLB.com's Jonathan
Mayo has already commented that he offers a strong curveball as well. The tools are there for this kid to develop
into a difference maker of the next few years.
Herrera has already
suffered an injury (shoulder inflammation) in camp this spring, so it might be
another two-to-three weeks until he returns to action, but the Yankees are
keeping their eye on this young hurler.
2016 Review
Ronald Herrera made 24
total starts in the minors last season – 23 starts at Double-A Trenton as well
as one spot start at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre – and for the most part,
was quite effective. Across his 23 starts
in Trenton, Herrera went 10-7 with a respectable 3.75 ERA. He also racked up nearly a strikeout per
inning, tallying 131 Ks over 137.0 innings pitched.
Most notably from last
season was his start on April 26th against the Double-A affiliate of the Blue
Jays, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Holding the Fisher Cats to only two walks and one hit batsman, Herrera
threw eight shutout innings with five strikeouts as part of a combined no
hitter with Thunder closer Jonathan Holder, who came on in relief in the ninth
inning.
Herrera's 2016 numbers
won't exactly jump off the page, but he has already shown he has the stuff to
succeed and we should expect his climb through the system to continue into this
season.
2017 Outlook
While Yankees fans
shouldn't expect to see Herrera in pinstripes this season, his age-22 (turns 22
in May) season is still one worth watching to see if he can continue his ascent
through the Yankees' farm system and push his way towards making the big league
club in 2018 and beyond. I would expect
Herrera to start this year with the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders
as many of their top arms from last year have strong chances of making the
Major League Roster next month.
If Herrera can recover
from his current shoulder inflammation by the time the minor league season starts
and build upon the success he had in 2016, he should be a key cog in the 2017
RailRiders' rotation, putting himself in position to factor into the 2018
Yankee roster, either as a bullpen arm, or perhaps a 4th or 5th starter.
Herrera isn't nearly
the household name fellow young arms Luis Severino, Chad Green, Luis Cessa,
Justus Sheffield, James Kaprielian, or Jordan Montgomery are, but don't be surprised when this
impressive young stud makes his impact felt in the Bronx, perhaps sooner rather
than later.
Article by: Andrew Natalizio
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