Jose Herrera (minors11)

Jose Francisco Herrera Torrez

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 155 lb.

• Born January 14, 1993 in Ciudad Guayana, Bolívar Venezuela

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Jose Herrera played in the minors and in Croatia and for the Croatian national team.

Herrera was signed by Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim scout Mauro Zerpa in December 2010. He hit only .132/.283/.184 for the 2011 DSL Angels but returned the next year and improved to .212/.309/.263 while fielding .933 as their main third baseman. He remained in that role the next year and continued to progress, to .244/.372/.274 with 34 walks in 62 games. Coming stateside in 2014, he hit .269/.323/.366 for the AZL Angels and fielded .936 at third.

Playing for Olimpija Karlovac, he helped them sweep the 2021 Federations Cup by batting .679/.719/1.286 with 5 homers, 12 runs and 22 RBI in 6 games! He was second in runs (one behind Kruno Gojković), led in hits (19, 6 more than anyone else), tied for the most homers, easily led in RBI (the runners-up had 10), led in average (.100 ahead of Petar Rumora), led in OBP (.052 ahead of Rumora), led in slugging (by .148) and led in OPS (by 400). He was an easy pick as MVP.

Obtaining Croatian citizenship by now, he got to play for Croatia in the 2021 European Championship. He was 3-for-4 with two runs and a RBI in the opening upset win over Germany, grounding out against Enorbel Marquez his first at-bat before getting hits the next three times. His solo shot off Murilo Gouvêa tied their game with Italy at one, and he finished the day with 3 RBI in a 8-5 loss to the Bronze Medalists. He then helped Croatia to its best finish in European Championship annals (having placed 8th twice in the 2000s); in the 7th/8th place game, he was 0 for 3 with two walks and a run in a 12-8 win over Belgium. He finished the Euros at .318/.360/.591 with six runs and six RBI in six games, fielding .867 at short (four errors). He tied Antonio Horvatić for the team lead in runs and was second in RBI, one behind Ronnie Krsolovic. He also tied for 3rd in the event in errors, one behind Denys Brechko and Felix Brown.