Frank Herrmann
Frank Joseph Herrmann, is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Cleveland Indians and Philadelphia Phillies, and in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and Chiba Lotte Marines.
Amateur career
High school
Herrmann attended Montclair Kimberley Academy, where he played baseball, football, and basketball. He was one of the school's few thousand point scorers in basketball. In 2011, he was inducted into the MKA Athletic Hall of Fame.College
For parts of the Spring and Fall 2006 semesters, Herrmann authored a column for The Harvard Crimson. He penned nine stories. The column functioned as a diary of his first year as a professional athlete. Though the editor's note before each article describes him as a "former Harvard" pitcher, the stories were written and published before he graduated from Harvard.Herrmann received his degree in economics from Harvard University in the fall of 2006. He is the fifteenth player to play in the majors after going to Harvard. Jeff Musselman had been the last. As a junior, he pitched a two-hitter against Yale and a one-hitter against Cornell. At the time of his signing with Cleveland, he was not finished with his studies at Harvard, so the Indians allowed him to return to complete his requirements and finish his degree.
Professional career
Cleveland Indians
Herrmann was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Cleveland Indians in 2006. He made his professional debut with the Single-A Lake County Captains, where he pitched to a 3.90 ERA and 4-6 record in 26 games. In 2007, he played for the High-A Kinston Indians, recording an 11-5 record and 4.01 ERA in 26 appearances. The next year, Herrmann split the season between the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, the Double-A Akron Aeros and Kinston, accumulating an 11-8 record and 4.14 ERA between the three teams. With the Aeros in 2008, Herrmann made 23 starts and, with his 11-6 regular season record and helped lead the team to the 2008 Eastern League championship series. In 2009, he split the season between the Triple-A Columbus Clippers and Akron, posting a 4-4 record and 2.95 ERA in 49 games.Hermann was promoted to the major leagues for the first time and made his major league debut with the Indians on June 4, 2010. In a game against the Chicago White Sox, he pitched 1.1 innings and gave up no hits, runs, or walks. He was credited with his first career hold, retiring all four batters he faced: Gordon Beckham, Juan Pierre, Omar Vizquel, and Alex Ríos. He struck out Vizquel for the first strikeout of his major league career. He finished his rookie season with a 4.03 ERA in 40 major league appearances, also notching a minuscule 0.31 ERA in 19 Columbus games. In 2011, Herrmann appeared in 40 major league games, and pitched to a 4-0 record and a 5.11 ERA. He spent the majority of the 2012 season in Columbus, but posted a 2.33 ERA in 15 major league games for the Indians.
On March 13, 2013, Herrmann underwent Tommy John surgery, causing him to miss the entire 2013 season. On December 2, 2013, Herrmann signed a one-year deal with the Indians, avoiding arbitration. He was designated for assignment on March 30, 2014. He was outrighted to Triple-A Columbus on April 8, where he spent the season, pitching to a 6.37 ERA in 28 games. He was released by the Indians organization on August 11, 2014.