All-Time Top 100 Marlins: #88 Jeremy Hermida

This offseason, Fish Stripes is counting down the Top 100 all-time Marlins, using the WAR metric to rank them in reverse order. Today, we’ll check out number 88 on the list, right fielder Jeremy Hermida.

Hermida was born on January 30th, 1984 in Atlanta, Georgia. A 6’3”, 220 lb. left-handed hitter, he was drafted by the Marlins in the first round of the 2002 amateur draft with the 11th overall selection.

Hermida joined the GCL Marlins soon after his selection, and he appeared in 38 contests with them, slashing .224/.316/.321/.637. He joined the Jamestown Jammers for 13 games near the end of the campaign in the low-A New York-Penn League, where he put up a .319/.407/.404/.812 line in his limited action.

2003 would see Hermida spend 133 games with the Greensboro Grasshoppers in the single-A South Atlantic League. He ranked second on the team by stealing 28 bases, getting caught only twice in the process and leading the club with 133 games. He slashed .284/.387/.393/.780 with six round-trippers and 49 RBI.

In 2004, Hermida moved up a level to join the high-A Jupiter Hammerheads, and played in 91 games with them. He hit .297/.377/.441/.818 with 10 homers and 50 RBI. He played most of 2005 with the Carolina Mudcats, where he put up a .293/.457/.518/.975 statline with 18 home runs and 63 RBI. He also got into his first major league action that season, going 12-for-41 over 23 games, with four homers, 11 RBI, and a 1.017 OPS. In the bottom of the seventh inning on August 31st, in Hermida’s major league debut, he hit a pinch hit grand-slam as the Marlins defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-5. On September 28th, in an 11-7 loss to the Washington Nationals, he hit a single, a double, and a solo home run.

In 2006, Hermida spent most of the season with the parent club in Miami, and played in 99 games. He slashed .251/.332/.368/.700 with five round trippers and 28 RBI, striking out 70 times and drawing 33 walks. The eventual 78-84 Marlins were much better with Hermida in, putting up a 51-33 record in games that he started versus 27-51 when he was not in the lineup. On April 5th, he drew two walks and hit a single and a double, scoring two runs in a 6-5 loss to the Houston Astros. On June 2nd, in a 4-2 win against the Colorado Rockies, he hit a leadoff triple in the fourth, a solo home run with one out in the sixth, and a two-out single in the eighth. On July 23rd, he hit a single in the fourth and a game-tying solo home run in the seventh of an eventual 5-4 Marlins win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

2007 would see Hermida start the season on the DL, and eventually stand tall as Florida’s starting right fielder. He got into 123 games with the club, slashing a Marlins-third best behind Hanley Ramirez and Miguel Cabrera, with a career-high .296/.369/.501/.870, with 18 round-trippers and 63 RBI. He had 38 multi-hit games as the Marlins posted a 54-69 record with him in the lineup. On May 24th, he hit a come-from-behind two-run homer in the fifth inning to take the lead of an eventual 5-4 Marlins win in 11 innings over the Philadelphia Phillies. On August 22nd, he hit another two-run come-from-behind lead-taking home run in the seventh inning of a 6-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. On August 28th, in a 4-3, 11-inning win against the Atlanta Braves, he hit a two-run shot in the second and a one-out double in the final inning.

Hermida played in a career-high 142 games with the Marlins in 2008, with a .249/.323/.406/.729 slashline and 17 homers with 61 RBI. The Marlins, 75-67 with Hermida playing, went 9-10 when he sat. He had 33 multi-hit games, including six three-hit contests. On June 2nd, he tripled in the fourth and scored, drew a walk in the eighth, and hit a two-run, lead-taking single in the top of the ninth innning of a 7-5, 10-inning loss to the Atlanta Braves. On June 20th, in a 7-6, 11-inning loss to the Oakland Athletics, he hit a single and scored in the seventh then smacked a two-run homer in the eighth. On July 25th, he hit a pinch-hit game-winning homer in the ninth inning of a 3-2 win against the Chicago Cubs.

In 2009, Hermida played in 129 games for the Fish, hitting .259/.348/.392/.740 with 13 home runs and 47 RBI. He had 27 multi-hit games and helped the Marlins to a 65-64 record while in the lineup, versus 22-11 when he sat. On April 18th, he helped the Marlins get to 10-1 on the season with his first two homer game, going three-for-six with five RBI in a 9-6, 11-inning win against the Washington Nationals.

Just after the end of the season, the Marlins traded Hermida to the Boston Red Sox for Hunter Jones and Jose Alvarez. After his time with the Sox (52 games, .203/.257/.348/.605, five home runs, 27 RBI), Hermida went on to play with the Athletics (21 games, .250/.294/.359/.653), the Cincinnati Reds (10 games, .111/.111/.278/.389) and the San Diego Padres (33 games, .234/.347/.391/.737). After bouncing around the minor leagues for a few seasons, he played the 2015 campaign with the Nippon Ham Fighters in the Japan Pacific League, hitting .211/.318/.289/.607 over 50 games.