Sickels: Failed Prospect: Chad Hermansen

My 1997 Bowman #87 - Chad Hermansen RC is now down to $0.20.  I’m hanging tough!

So, what happened here?

I have seen a lot of Hermansen over the years, and his problem is easy enough to diagnose. He can’t hit breaking balls. It was his weakness back in 2000 and it is his weakness now. He still has bat speed and power, but he’s very pitchable and hasn’t been able to get past a swing-from-the-heels approach for any length of time.

When he was young, the theory was that given his age that he would be able to resolve this problem eventually, but it never quite happened, granted his major league playing time was erratic and spread out, and the injuries did not help. But even if someone had given him 500 more at-bats to adjust to the majors, I doubt he would have been able to keep his batting average any higher than .240 at best, with a mediocre OBP and very high strikeout rate.

Lesson Learned:
Age-relative-to-league is important but not an absolute thing.
Some guys peak early and don’t develop their skills even if they are young for their leagues early in their career.