Chris Herrmann

Amateur career

Chris Herrmann grew up in Tomball, Texas, and starred as a second baseman at Tomball High School. He then played one season at Alvin Community College, where he batted .442 with 14 home runs, made the NJCAA Division I All-American team, and hit .500 with three homers at the Junior College World Series to earn All-Tournament honors. After that, he transferred to the University of Miami for a single season before deciding to go pro.

Professional career

Herrmann was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 10th round of the 2008 MLB draft out of Alvin Community College but did not sign. In the 2009 MLB draft, the Minnesota Twins selected him in the sixth round from the University of Miami. He began his professional career in 2009 with the Elizabethton Twins and reached Double-A in 2011 with the New Britain Rock Cats. After 127 games for New Britain in 2012, he was called up to the majors on September 14, 2012, playing seven games with one single and one RBI in 18 at bats.

In 2013, he split time between the Twins and Triple-A Rochester Red Wings, hitting his first MLB home run on June 2 off Jeremy Bonderman. He played a career-high 57 games for the Twins in 2013, batting .204 with four home runs and 18 RBIs, striking out 49 times in 157 at bats. In 2014, he batted .213 in 75 at bats, mostly in the outfield, and also played 60 Triple-A games. In 2015, his slash line was .146/.214/.272 with 37 strikeouts in 103 at bats across 45 MLB games and 23 Triple-A games.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Over four seasons with the Twins, he appeared in 142 MLB games, batting .181 with six home runs and 33 RBIs, making 69 appearances at catcher, 52 in the outfield, two at first base, and three as designated hitter. On November 10, 2015, he was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Daniel Palka. In 2016, he hit a career-high .284 in 56 games for Arizona. The following season, he served as a utility player, batting .181/.273/.345 with 10 home runs and 27 RBIs in 106 games, striking out 67 times in 226 at bats.

Seattle Mariners

He was designated for assignment on March 25, 2018, and released the next day. On April 7, 2018, he signed a minor league deal with the Seattle Mariners, began in Triple-A, and was called up during the season, appearing in 36 games with a .237 average and 24 strikeouts in 76 at bats; defensively, he caught 4 of 18 base-stealers.

Did You Know?

• Herrmann hit a grand slam in his first game with the Oakland Athletics on July 2, 2019, against his former team, the Minnesota Twins.
• In 2023, he won the American Association Player of the Year award and the league championship with the Kansas City Monarchs.