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03-26-2002, 04:19 PM
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Chad Hermansen has had to deal with more pressure in his 25 years than most of people will in a lifetime.
At 17, Hermansen was selected 10th overall in 1995 draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates after being named High School Player of the Year by Gatorade and USA Today. The prototypical five-tool player, he seemed to be able to do it all.
Hermansen was so impressive, in fact, that by his second professional game Bradenton manager Woody Huyke declared that he could "walk on water." Many Pirates faithful believed that their team had found the heir apparent to Barry Bonds.
It was all quite a lot to live up to for a kid not yet old enough to vote.
"It was tough," said Hermansen of the lofty expectations. "When comments are made like that, people perceive you as being a lot greater than you are. It's tough to live up to. I think fans get upset with me because I haven't lived up to my capabilities yet."
Potential. It can be a curse. Early on in Hermansen's development, he seemed well on the way to reaching his. While at Triple-A Nashville during the 1998 and 1999 seasons, Hermansen averaged 30 home runs and 20 steals. He appeared destined for big league stardom.
Not suprisingly, Hermansen was the Pirates' starter in center field to begin the 2000 season. But this was the end of the fairy tale ride for the Pirates' top prospect. His life was about to become a nightmare from which he's just begun to wake up.
Hermansen struggled so badly with the Pirates that he was optioned back to Triple-A on May 20th. More alarming than his failures in the big leagues was his sudden inability to hit at Triple-A.
Hermansen batted just .238 and struck out an alarming 243 times in 741 at bats with Nashville over the next two seasons. As the Major League club continued to suffer injury after injury last year, Hermansen could only sit and watch while his lesser-known Sounds teammates were promoted ahead of him. He called it the lowest point of his baseball career.
"I was watching guy after guy get called up. and I was just sitting there in Triple-A struggling," said Hermansen. "It was the hardest thing to deal with.
"I was wondering what I was doing. I never had the mind frame that I was going to quit or give up. But it was to the point where I decided that I needed to just go out there and play and quit worrying about everything else."
Many believed that the mild-mannered Hermansen had finally cracked under the immense pressure. According to him, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, he was just beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
"As a person, I have learned so much from failure and adversity," said Hermansen. "It just gets to the point where you go with what your natural instincts are and what you have learned from other people and just go out and play."
The new attitude did not immediately pay off dividends. Being at peace with himself alone was not going to help him make more consistent contact with the ball. His swing would still need to be adjusted.
During Hermansen's his brief stay with Pittsburgh at the end of last season, hitting coach Dave Clark helped him to begin to improve his approach at the plate.
"We know he is real quick inside," said Clark. "He didn't have a problem hitting pitches on the inside part of the plate.
"But he gets in a funk when he starts pulling off of those pitches. If we get him thinking about going up the middle or the other way then it will keep him on the pitches inside. Not to say that he is going to give up the inside part of the plate, but he is so quick in there that he can look outside and be able to react to the pitches inside where before he was pulling off of them.
"What it does is, it keeps him hitting off of the fastball, but he's still on the breaking ball. What we see a lot of times is guys who don't do that, and are pulling off those pitches with their shoulders flying out and head flying everywhere. We're not seeing that with him now."
Hermansen batted only .164 in 22 games with Pittsburgh, but it was during the teams' last game of the season that light bulb seemed to go off for him. He hit the game-winning home run against the Chicago Cubs that day and headed into the off-season with confidence that he could hit big league pitching.
Hermansen needed every bit of self-confidence that he could muster heading into Spring Training last month. He's out of minor league options, and if he doesn't make the club this spring, his career with the Pirates' organization will likely come an end.
Rather than succumb to what should have been the most intense pressure of his career, Hermansen has excelled, batting .355 with three home runs and six RBIs in Grapefruit League action.
"I've gone in and just tried to do the best that I can," said Hermansen. "I've tried to continue to improve as a player and work on the things I need to work on to be more consistent. That seems to be a thing that has been hard for me throughout the big leagues. I need to be more consistent with the at bats that I have."
Manager Lloyd McClendon agrees with the young outfielder's assessment.
"I've said all along and I've made no bones about it. The kid has talent," said McClendon. "I just need a consistent player. That's what I need him to show me down here."
Clark has noticed a change for the better in this area.
"The biggest thing that I'm seeing and I'm very pleased with is the fact that he is recognizing pitches," said Clark. "He's not swinging at a lot of bad pitches. If we can get him on the track of getting good pitches to hit and good counts, then he'll be fine.
"Everybody in baseball knows the type of talent and power that he has and the way he goes about his business. It's just about him getting his confidence back again."
It seems as though Hermansen finally does have the confidence that once made him one of the most feared hitters in the minor leagues. In his eyes, he has never felt better in a big league uniform.
"I feel more relaxed and more confident," said Hermansen. "I feel great with the approach that I'm taking and the confidence that I have with that approach."
"I think that I've performed better than any other spring that I've been in, even better than in 2000 when I made the team."
Maybe most importantly, Hermansen has learned how to handle failure. He no longer takes each strikeout as a personal defeat.
"It's real easy to feel good and confident when things go well," said Hermansen. " I think the difference that I feel is when I don't get a hit or when I strike out.
"In the past, I would feel pretty bad about it. I still do. I get mad when I make an out. But now I've learned to just to go get them the next time. It's just taken more pressure off me just to go out and have fun."
Hermansen is confident that his new approach and attitude will assure him a spot on the roster. In fact, Hermansen still considers himself a contender for the center field job.
"I have played the best I ever have in Spring Training, and I think I can bring the whole package to the team," said Hermansen. "At 24, I still think have a bright future ahead of me. My confidence is starting to build up more and more each day.
"Hopefully, I can just go out and do the job."
At 17, Hermansen was selected 10th overall in 1995 draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates after being named High School Player of the Year by Gatorade and USA Today. The prototypical five-tool player, he seemed to be able to do it all.
Hermansen was so impressive, in fact, that by his second professional game Bradenton manager Woody Huyke declared that he could "walk on water." Many Pirates faithful believed that their team had found the heir apparent to Barry Bonds.
It was all quite a lot to live up to for a kid not yet old enough to vote.
"It was tough," said Hermansen of the lofty expectations. "When comments are made like that, people perceive you as being a lot greater than you are. It's tough to live up to. I think fans get upset with me because I haven't lived up to my capabilities yet."
Potential. It can be a curse. Early on in Hermansen's development, he seemed well on the way to reaching his. While at Triple-A Nashville during the 1998 and 1999 seasons, Hermansen averaged 30 home runs and 20 steals. He appeared destined for big league stardom.
Not suprisingly, Hermansen was the Pirates' starter in center field to begin the 2000 season. But this was the end of the fairy tale ride for the Pirates' top prospect. His life was about to become a nightmare from which he's just begun to wake up.
Hermansen struggled so badly with the Pirates that he was optioned back to Triple-A on May 20th. More alarming than his failures in the big leagues was his sudden inability to hit at Triple-A.
Hermansen batted just .238 and struck out an alarming 243 times in 741 at bats with Nashville over the next two seasons. As the Major League club continued to suffer injury after injury last year, Hermansen could only sit and watch while his lesser-known Sounds teammates were promoted ahead of him. He called it the lowest point of his baseball career.
"I was watching guy after guy get called up. and I was just sitting there in Triple-A struggling," said Hermansen. "It was the hardest thing to deal with.
"I was wondering what I was doing. I never had the mind frame that I was going to quit or give up. But it was to the point where I decided that I needed to just go out there and play and quit worrying about everything else."
Many believed that the mild-mannered Hermansen had finally cracked under the immense pressure. According to him, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, he was just beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
"As a person, I have learned so much from failure and adversity," said Hermansen. "It just gets to the point where you go with what your natural instincts are and what you have learned from other people and just go out and play."
The new attitude did not immediately pay off dividends. Being at peace with himself alone was not going to help him make more consistent contact with the ball. His swing would still need to be adjusted.
During Hermansen's his brief stay with Pittsburgh at the end of last season, hitting coach Dave Clark helped him to begin to improve his approach at the plate.
"We know he is real quick inside," said Clark. "He didn't have a problem hitting pitches on the inside part of the plate.
"But he gets in a funk when he starts pulling off of those pitches. If we get him thinking about going up the middle or the other way then it will keep him on the pitches inside. Not to say that he is going to give up the inside part of the plate, but he is so quick in there that he can look outside and be able to react to the pitches inside where before he was pulling off of them.
"What it does is, it keeps him hitting off of the fastball, but he's still on the breaking ball. What we see a lot of times is guys who don't do that, and are pulling off those pitches with their shoulders flying out and head flying everywhere. We're not seeing that with him now."
Hermansen batted only .164 in 22 games with Pittsburgh, but it was during the teams' last game of the season that light bulb seemed to go off for him. He hit the game-winning home run against the Chicago Cubs that day and headed into the off-season with confidence that he could hit big league pitching.
Hermansen needed every bit of self-confidence that he could muster heading into Spring Training last month. He's out of minor league options, and if he doesn't make the club this spring, his career with the Pirates' organization will likely come an end.
Rather than succumb to what should have been the most intense pressure of his career, Hermansen has excelled, batting .355 with three home runs and six RBIs in Grapefruit League action.
"I've gone in and just tried to do the best that I can," said Hermansen. "I've tried to continue to improve as a player and work on the things I need to work on to be more consistent. That seems to be a thing that has been hard for me throughout the big leagues. I need to be more consistent with the at bats that I have."
Manager Lloyd McClendon agrees with the young outfielder's assessment.
"I've said all along and I've made no bones about it. The kid has talent," said McClendon. "I just need a consistent player. That's what I need him to show me down here."
Clark has noticed a change for the better in this area.
"The biggest thing that I'm seeing and I'm very pleased with is the fact that he is recognizing pitches," said Clark. "He's not swinging at a lot of bad pitches. If we can get him on the track of getting good pitches to hit and good counts, then he'll be fine.
"Everybody in baseball knows the type of talent and power that he has and the way he goes about his business. It's just about him getting his confidence back again."
It seems as though Hermansen finally does have the confidence that once made him one of the most feared hitters in the minor leagues. In his eyes, he has never felt better in a big league uniform.
"I feel more relaxed and more confident," said Hermansen. "I feel great with the approach that I'm taking and the confidence that I have with that approach."
"I think that I've performed better than any other spring that I've been in, even better than in 2000 when I made the team."
Maybe most importantly, Hermansen has learned how to handle failure. He no longer takes each strikeout as a personal defeat.
"It's real easy to feel good and confident when things go well," said Hermansen. " I think the difference that I feel is when I don't get a hit or when I strike out.
"In the past, I would feel pretty bad about it. I still do. I get mad when I make an out. But now I've learned to just to go get them the next time. It's just taken more pressure off me just to go out and have fun."
Hermansen is confident that his new approach and attitude will assure him a spot on the roster. In fact, Hermansen still considers himself a contender for the center field job.
"I have played the best I ever have in Spring Training, and I think I can bring the whole package to the team," said Hermansen. "At 24, I still think have a bright future ahead of me. My confidence is starting to build up more and more each day.
"Hopefully, I can just go out and do the job."