He was moved into the Short-A New York-Penn League where he caught some wind in his sails, batting .319/.404 in limited action.
Greensboro was the next stop in 2003. His bat warmed up, going .284/393. He had 6 home runs, 49 RBIs and 29 stolen bases. It came at the cost of a lot of strikeouts, a century's worth (100) with 468 at-bats.
He got a one-game call up to the Albuquerque Isotopes in the AAA Pacific Coast League (PCL) to see if he could jump a level. They didn't give him more than one at-bat on that plan of attack.
The leap of faith didn't stick. He was assigned to the the Jupiter Hammerheads in the Florida State League for 2004. There he started to approach his much-touted potential at .297/.441, banging in 10 home runs, 50 RBIs, and stealing 10.
This season, he was assigned to Carolina, where he batted .296/.524, showing continued signs of improvement. To date he's been good for 18 home runs, 63 RBIs and 23 stolen bases. Since base stealing is supposed to be one of his assets as a big money prospect, going over twenty for the first time since his high burn year in Greensboro is probably welcome news to the Marlins.
We rank Hermida at 33 because he's a darling of the scouts and touts, and his dollar value to the Marlins, and lower cost of operation than Juan Encarncion, currently occupying the turf in Miami, mean that he is a fast-track prospect by default.
Here's one where we have to respectfully disagree with the hype-fest on a player. The pre-season prospect guides tout young Mr. Hermida as likely for the big time by 2006. We just don't see it based on what they knew at the time, or what we see this season, midway through.
He looks great in a batting cage, but out there on the field, he is proving himself far more slowly than many of his peers. He hasn't had that breakout year yet. On his D side, our sources tell us that he needs work before he can make it to the bigs. On the O, he has to show more consistency and start banging some bombs if he's going to have the rep of a home-run hitter. If he's going to be a base stealer, he needs to start producing more consistently to earn the rep.
Touts say he's a 20+ home run guy in the bigs. Guys who hit 20+ home runs for most clubs typically can put up double-digit numbers most seasons in the minors. With Carolina, Hermida has hit 18 dingers, two more than his whole pro career combined over the three prior seasons.
On the base stealing front, another bullet point of the S&Ts on Hermida, he's been inconsistent at best.
The Marlins can reel him up from the farm and drop him into the Dolphin pond, but he'll flap around on the deck like dying bait fish if he doesn't swim upstream through Albuquerque before checking out South Florida waters.
He hasn't had a promotion back to Albuquerque yet this season, which our sources tell us is consistent with developing Hermida as a player, not just trying to fill a short-term need. Point for the Marlins for sticking with their principles on that level.
So 2007 looks like it might be a possibility for his arrival in the bigs, even 2008 if he's not rushed and continues this kind of steady growth.
The question still remains, even if he gets to wear a Marlins uni in 2007, was the trip worth it for the club? If he's not prime time until 2008, they may have to make other moves, costing them even more than Hermida's very dear signing bonus. We'll be watching what Jeremy does this fall and in Spring for clues as to how he'll shake out. We'll also track his progress in Albuquerque to see if he can go nuclear at the Isotopes' Reactor, and explode on to the scene with the Marlins.
Hermida's numbers have been such that, even though there are those shouting to the rafters about his potential greatness, we couldn't place him on either the FAB50 2004 or the Ones2Watch. He makes the list this year based on improving numbers, and our projection of him being a major leaguer within our two year time window.
