YOSLAN HERRERA

4/28/81; NDFA '06; Cuba
R/R; 6-2, 200

Level	W-L-Sv	G	GS	IP	H	HR	BB	K	BB/9	K/9	WHIP	OAVG	ERA
2007 AA	6-9-0	25	25	128.2	151	11	38	70	2.7	4.9	1.47	.296	4.69
2008 NL	1-1-0	5	5	18.1	35	1	12	10	5.9	4.9	2.56	.427	9.82
2008 AAA	1-0-0	1	1	7.0	7	1	1	6	1.3	7.7	1.14	.269	2.57
2008 AA	6-9-0	21	21	114.1	114	9	36	69	2.8	5.4	1.31	.264	3.46
2009 AAA	1-1-0	4	2	15.2	12	1	7	7	4.0	4.0	1.21	.218	2.30
2009 AA	11-1-0	23	15	97.2	98	5	33	65	3.0	6.0	1.34	.268	3.23

Herrera represents the Pirates' first foray into Cuban baseball. He defected after going 18-7, 3.72 for the Cuban National Team, and the Pirates signed him to a major league contract calling for a little under $2M over three years, with various incentive clauses. According to Baseball America at the time of the signing, he threw an 88-92 mph fastball, a good curve and a splitter, and profiled as a 4th starter. He was considered nearly major-league-ready, but hadn't pitched in competition since 2004, due to the procedures involved with defecting, establishing residency outside Cuba, and getting a US visa. There also was an unspecified snag in his physical that caused some delay in his signing becoming official. He spent 2007 at Altoona and had an uninspiring season. He started off badly, with an ERA of 8.05 in April. The Pirates attributed it, understandably, to the long layoff and to the need for Herrera to adjust to American baseball, particularly the need to pitch off his fastball and not rely most of the time on his breaking stuff. He eventually adjusted and posted ERAs of 3.60 in June and 2.78 in July. He struggled more after that, but may have been tired, which also would be understandable.

The improved ERAs, however, weren't matched by Herrera's other numbers. His K rate remained low throughout the season and his overall rate of 4.9 per 9 IP was about 2.0 below the league average. He never allowed fewer hits than he had innings pitched in any month during the season. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, his fastball rarely topped 86 mph at any point.

Herrera improved significantly in 2008, allowing far fewer hits, although his K rate remained very low. He got stronger, as his velocity reached the upper 80s, but the coaches still had trouble convincing him to pitch off his fastball. He got called up in mid-July when the Pirates simply ran out of starters and stayed in the rotation for five starts. With the exception of one outing in which he threw six shutout innings against a struggling Padres team, he had little success as he generally nibbled around the strike zone and got hammered when he got the ball over the plate. He was not called up in September. In fact, he didn't even pitch in AAA after he was sent down.  In 2009, he opened the season in the bullpen, but he moved to the rotation when Jared Hughes got hurt.  He also had a few fill-in outings in AAA.  Outside of an improved K rate, his season was virtually identical to 2008.  The one other big difference was that he didn't suffer from the near-total lack of run support that plagued the other Curve pitchers before Pedro Alvarez joined the team.  The 11-1 record left some fans wondering whether he might be a prospect after all, but he's really the same pitcher, except this time he was 28 years old in AA instead of 27.

Herrera has probably settled in at his optimum level at this point. His signing probably had more to do with Dave Littlefield's desire to counter the negative publicity surrounding the team's complete failure to find prospects in Latin America. Signing a 16-year-old Dominican kid who was years from the majors wouldn't have produced the PR that came from signing A Cuban Defector who was supposedly close to the majors. Kevin McClatchy was probably the only person fooled by the stunt.  The team's new management obviously wasn't, as Herrera was removed from the 40-man roster after the 2008 season and outrighted to the minors.   The Pirates will control his rights for several more years; he won't even be eligible for the Rule 5 draft until after the 2010 season.  He'll probably be assigned wherever they need a swing man in AAA or AA.

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