Dustin Michael Hermanson (born December 21, 1972) is an American former right-handed

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

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). Hermanson pitched for several MLB teams between 1995 and 2006. He had his best season with the

2005 Chicago White Sox The 2005 Chicago White Sox season was the White Sox's 105th season. They finished with a 99–63 record in the regular season and first place in the American League Central division by six games over the Cleveland Indians. In the playoffs, they wo ...

team that won the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

; he had 34 saves that year before sustaining a season-ending back injury in September.

Early life

Hermanson was born in

Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County, Ohio, Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River (Ohio), Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, approxim ...

, and he attended Kenton Ridge High School in Springfield. He played three seasons of

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 Kent State, where his fastball increased in speed from 88 mph to 96 mph. He was a finalist for the

Golden Spikes Award The Golden Spikes Award is bestowed annually to the best amateur baseball player in the United States. The award, created by USA Baseball and sponsored by the Major League Baseball Players Association, was first presented in 1978. It is given to ...

in 1994. He was selected in the first round of the 1994 Major League Baseball Draft with the third overall selection by the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

. Hermanson split the 1994 season between Double-A and Triple-A before making his MLB debut in 1995.

MLB career

Hermanson played for the Padres and their Triple-A affiliate, the Las Vegas Stars, in 1995 and 1996. He then played for the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

for four seasons before moving around to the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

, and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

. With Montreal and St. Louis, Hermanson was mostly a starting pitcher, while he moved mostly into a relief role with the latter three teams. He served as the closer for the White Sox during most of their 2005 championship season, saving 34 games before being replaced by rookie

Bobby Jenks Robert Scott Jenks (born March 14, 1981) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox from 2005 through 2011. According to the ''Baseball Almanac'', his ...

in late September when he injured his back. Hermanson had a 2.04 ERA at the time of his injury. On October 30, 2006, the White Sox declined a 2007 option for $3.65 million on Hermanson. He received a $500,000 payout. He signed a minor league deal with a

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

invitation with the Reds on March 1, 2007. Hermanson was discussed as a possible closer for the Reds, but he had a 7.36 ERA in spring training and the Reds asked him to go to the minor leagues. Hermanson asked to be released instead of reporting to Triple-A. By June 2007, Hermanson said he was probably finished playing baseball. He was dealing with a bad back, and he said he looked forward to being more available to his children.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hermanson, Dustin 1972 births Living people Baseball players from Ohio American expatriate baseball players in Canada Major League Baseball pitchers San Diego Padres players Montreal Expos players Boston Red Sox players St. Louis Cardinals players San Francisco Giants players Chicago White Sox players Kent State Golden Flashes baseball players Sportspeople from Springfield, Ohio Wichita Wranglers players Las Vegas Stars (baseball) players Gulf Coast Red Sox players Pawtucket Red Sox players Fresno Grizzlies players Charlotte Knights players