Brewers re-sign Jeremy Hermida to minor league deal

The Milwaukee Brewers have re-signed 30-year-old outfielder Jeremy Hermida to a minor league deal, per a club announcement. The deal includes an invite to major league Spring Training.

Hermida spent all of 2014 playing for the Brewers' Triple-A affiliate in Nashville, where he hit a solid .256/.370/.456 with a 117 wRC+ and 16 home runs. He still demonstrates considerable patience at the plate, as exemplified by his 15.2% walk rate in 108 games. He posted similar numbers in a 132 game stop with the Indians' Triple-A affiliate in 2013, hitting .247/.365/.416 with 17 home runs, 88 walks, and a 121 wRC+.

Originally drafted by the Marlins with the 11th overall pick in the 2002 draft, Hermida rose through the ranks of the minors as one of the more highly-regarded hitting prospects in the game. Prior to the 2006 season, Baseball America ranked him the 4th best prospect in baseball.

Initially, Hermida lived up to the hype, flourishing (125 OPS+, 2.4 WAR) in his first full season with the Marlins in 2007. However, following two consecutive sub-par offensive seasons in 2008 and 2009, Hermida's career went into a tailspin, as he bounced around four organizations, playing a combined 116 major league games from 2010 to 2012. He has not played in the majors since then. For the Brewers, he will likely serve as organizational depth, with an outside shot of him seeing some big league time were the need to arise.

Also on Friday, the Brewers signed infielder Pete Orr to a minor league deal with an invitation to big league Spring Training. The 35-year-old Orr last played in the majors in 2013, when he hit .200/.273/.200 in 15 games with the Phillies.