On Sept. 30, 2009, Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez stated Jeremy Hermida wouldn’t be playing anytime soon. Apparently, Hermida had injured an oblique muscle, and was scratched from the lineup indefinitely. I read a piece on FishStripes on the SB NationWeb site stated Hermida would probably “not make another start for the Marlins...”
Not only did he not make another start for the Marlins this past season, he likely won’t make another start for them in his career (unless the Fish reacquire him down the road, which is unlikely), as he was traded by the Florida front office on Thursday to the Boston Red Sox for two minor league left-handed pitchers, Hunter Jones and Jose Alvarez.
The night of Aug. 31, 2005, Jeremy Hermida made his major league debut for the Florida Marlins. Pinch-hitting in the seventh inning for pitcher Brian Moehler, Hermida stepped to the plate against the St. Louis Cardinals’ Al Reyes with the bases loaded and launched a 373-foot blast into the right field stands, accomplishing something only one other player had ever done in baseball history.
Prior to that at-bat, only one other player in the history of the game had hit a grand slam in his first major league at-bat. That person was Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Bill Duggleby, who accomplished the feat against the New York Giants in the second inning on April 21, 1898.
That grand slam helped the Phillies beat the Giants that day, and although Hermida’s came in the latter stages of a 10-5 loss to the Cards, it gave rise to a belief Hermida was going to be something special for the Marlins.
Jeremy had been called up from the Double-A Carolina Mudcats, where he’d hit 18 home runs and had 63 RBI in 118 games. While in the minors, his eye for the strike zone was so pronounced he was encouraged to try and swing away rather than walking.
The Marlins, in calling him up, hoped to use his bat as help in the postseason (it’s why he was called up before Sept. 1, so he could be placed on the postseason roster), and although the Fish collapsed late in that season to miss the playoffs, the general consensus was Hermida was going to be a star for them in 2006.
In a word, he had great potential.
Oh, how we’ve heard that one before. Just among Marlins fans there are plenty of players who we remember had “great potential.” Remember Jaime Jones or Josh Booty, anyone? How about Chip Ambres?
Heck, even a lot of the great stars in the game today once played for the Fish, but never realized their true potential till they left. Derrek Lee, Brad Penny, A.J. Burnett, and even Josh Beckett come to mind.
Yes, I know Beckett was integral in winning the Marlins a title in 2003, but with all his great potential—and even considering his key role in getting Florida a championship—his stay with Florida was usually more about blisters and other injuries than it was about ERA and strikeouts. Once he left the Marlins, he became a consistent superstar pitcher.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once wrote, “When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be.”
While I agree with Goethe in most respects, I think Hermida is the one case to prove his statement is not a law. Or, rather, is the exception to the rule.
Hermida was treated as if he already were what he potentially could (or can) be, nearly from the start. He was given the keys to the kingdom, so to speak, and perhaps through no fault of his own squandered that opportunity.
Yes, injuries have played a large part in his predicament (2009 was the first time he played 142 games, not even a full season), but I think that even with those injuries, as Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel pointed out, if Hermida had “consistently hit .275 with 20 homers, 80 RBI and a .375 on-base percentage he might still be a Marlin.”
Calvin Coolidge once said, “The most common commodity in this country is unrealized potential.”
That sentiment couldn’t be any more true when it’s applied to sports. Unrealized potential is rampant throughout all sports, and especially in baseball. Jeremy Hermida has been a case in point. Marlins fans, myself included, have hoped since he bombed that four-bagger into the right-field bleachers that August night we’d see him reach that potential while wearing a Florida uniform.
Mary Ellen Pitts, in Toward a Dialogue of Understanding wrote, “…all things are crouched in eagerness to become something else…” Marlins fans, in the same way, were crouched breathlessly, for three seasons, eagerly awaiting Hermida to realize his potential and become something else; something more than just “great potential.” They’ve waited for him to become “realized potential” or “superstar.”
He has all the tools necessary to become one. He’s got the physical gifts. He just needs to begin to use them consistently. Sadly, if he realizes that potential, it will be for someone else, probably the Red Sox; just as Beckett has realized his full potential in Bean Town.
I wish Jeremy all the best, I really do. I hope he helps Boston replace Jason Bay, who they’re almost assuredly going to lose to free agency (although, truthfully they have the money to keep him). I hope he launches 35-40 home runs into the stands, drives in 120 RBI, and bats .300. I don’t wish him ill, nor will I feel bad if he succeeds. I will, however, glance wistfully at him and say, “Damn, why couldn’t you have done that in a Marlins uni?”
In all sports, men strive for greatness. Many of them have the physical tools to possibly reach that greatness. Whether they do or not is dependent on a great number of factors. In the end, it’s all still just a game, and not curing cancer, so if they reach their potential or not won’t really change the world, yet, even without the “potential” for such great impact, everyone who plays sports wants to reach the pinnacle of their ability.
As Robert Mallet put it, “It is not the impossibilities that fill us with deepest despair, but possibilities that we have failed to realize.”
Here’s hoping Jeremy doesn’t despair. Good luck in Boston, my friend.
Team Notes: Cameron Maybin will undergo surgery on Monday to repair a partially-torn labrum in his left shoulder but is expected to be ready for spring training and is slotted to be the Marlins starting center fielder in 2010. Also, Cody Ross is expected to take over in Right Field for Hermida, and there is still no substantive word on whether second baseman Dan Uggla’s days in Land Shark Stadium are over. I’m hopeful I can get a phone interview with someone in the organization to clarify that soon now that I’m a Featured Columnist on Bleacher Report.
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