Davidjohn Patrick Herz (born January 4, 2001) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2024.

Early life and amateur career

Herz played baseball,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Terry Sanford High School Terry Sanford High School (formerly known as Fayetteville Senior High School) is a public high school in Fayetteville, North Carolina. It is named after Terry Sanford, who was a North Carolina state senator, Governor of North Carolina, and Unite ...

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-America C ...

. Football was his favorite sport and Herz played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for his high school. He considered walking on to the football team at

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

until

Sam Howell Sam Howell (born September 16, 2000) is an American football quarterback for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at North Carolina, setting school records for most touchdown passes in a si ...

committed to play for the Tar Heels. As a basketball player, he played on AAU teams with

Dennis Smith Jr. Dennis Cliff Smith Jr. (born November 25, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He attended North Carolina State University for one season of college basketba ...

He committed to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the ''Tar Heel ...

. As a senior baseball player, he had an 8–1

record A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

, 0.50

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

and .419 batting average.

Professional career

Chicago Cubs

He was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the eighth round of the

2019 Major League Baseball draft The 2019 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft was held from June 3 to 5, 2019. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2018 MLB season standings. In additi ...

. He signed with the Cubs for $500,000, forgoing his commitment to play college baseball at North Carolina. Herz made his professional debut with the rookie–level Arizona League Cubs. He did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Herz started 2021 with the Single–A Myrtle Beach Pelicans and was later promoted to the High–A South Bend Cubs. Over twenty starts between the two affiliates, he went 4–4 with a 3.31 ERA and 131 strikeouts over innings. Herz won the Vedie Himsl Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Year award. Herz split the 2022 campaign between South Bend and the Double–A Tennessee Smokies, accumulating a 3–6 record and 4.25 ERA with 141 strikeouts across 26 starts. He began the 2023 season with Tennessee, posting a 3.97 ERA with 80 strikeouts in 14 starts.

Washington Nationals

On July 31, 2023, Herz and Kevin Made were traded to the

in exchange for

Jeimer Candelario Jeimer Candelario ( ; born November 24, 1993) is an American professional baseball third baseman for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers. Early life C ...

. He finished the year with the Double–A Harrisburg Senators, compiling a 2.55 ERA with 53 strikeouts across 8 starts. On November 14, 2023, the Nationals added Herz to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. He was optioned to the Triple–A

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field ...

to begin the 2024 season. On June 4, 2024, Herz was promoted to the major leagues for the first time. Herz recorded his first major league win in his third start, defeating the Marlins on June 15. With the start, he became the first pitcher since Stephen Strasburg, and the second since 1901, to record 13 strikeouts without walking a batter in one his first three major league appearances.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herz, DJ 2001 births Living people Arizona League Cubs players Baseball players from North Carolina Harrisburg Senators players Major League Baseball pitchers Myrtle Beach Pelicans players Rochester Red Wings players Scottsdale Scorpions players South Bend Cubs players Sportspeople from Fayetteville, North Carolina Tennessee Smokies players Washington Nationals players