Pitcher Herrera travels long road in career

Captains hurler Alsis Herrera, who is from the Dominican Republic, has seen his career carry him to places as far off as Iowa and Oklahoma as he tries to make the majors.

The road to professional baseball can take a few twists and turns.

It’s probably fair to say, though, not many prospects have twisted and turned, clawed and scrapped in quite the manner in which Alsis Herrera has.

The left-handed reliever, who turned 25 on May 25, has been solid in a rough season from a won-lost standpoint for the Captains. He is 3-1 with a 1.89 earnedrun average and 32 strikeouts in 38 2/3 innings over 17 appearances.

On July 21, he tossed three shutout innings and struck out three to earn the win as Lake County doubled up Kane County, 4-2.

He has also logged one game each with Lynchburg and Double-A Akron. For the Single-A Hillcats on May 22, the lefty went 3 1/3 shutout innings to get the win, 4-3 over Potomac.

“I think the hard work paid off,” Herrera said. “That’s a very good experience. I try to go up there and do my job and try to help my team win some games.”

Herrera hails from San Juan de la Maguana on the western edge of the Dominican Republic. When he graduated from TV Centro Hato del Padre, Herrera knew his path to pro ball would have to go through college in the United States.

“As a kid, when I was like 4 or 5, I was playing in the driveway of my house with all of the kids and all the neighbors,” Herrera said. “When I grew a little bit, like 10, 11 I think, I went to play the other kids, like a program. And then I just kept playing until I got to do some tryouts.

“We don’t play high school in the Dominican Republic. We go to a baseball program, and we get a lot of tryouts at 16. Then we get signed as a free agent.”

Where he wound up first as he eventually worked toward signing — coming from a Caribbean nation for the first time — could be classified as unlikely.

Herrera’s first stop was at Indian Hills, a community college in Ottumwa, Iowa, about 85 miles southeast of Des Moines.

In 2014 as a sophomore, he went 5-0 with 47 strikeouts in 40 2/3 innings.

“When I was in the Dominican, I couldn’t sign,” Herrera said. “I wasn’t that ready for what they asked for. So my coach from the Dominican, he had connections with Indian Hills Community College, and they watched me pitch — a normal tryout. I think they liked me, and they took me over there.”

If the Dominican Republic to a community college in southern Iowa seems unique, it was about to become even more so.

In 2015, Herrera arrived at the University of Science and Arts, an NAIA school in Chickasha, Oklahoma, 40 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. The Drovers recorded 81 wins over Herrera’s two seasons with the program and made their first-ever NAIA World Series appearance in 2016.

Herrera went 8-5 with a 3.28 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 85 innings in 2015, then put together a brilliant senior campaign. He was 11-4 with a 2.41 ERA and 143 strikeouts in 112 innings in 2016, earning NAIA secondteam All-American honors. In a regular-season game last April, Herrera struck out 15.

“I always was a hard worker,” Herrera said. “I’m going to try to be a hard worker every day. I just tried to go over there and do my job, give the team a chance to win however many games I can.”

In order to catch the eye of major-league clubs, Herrera also pitched for two years in a summer league in Massachusetts, and a scouting service posted a video on YouTube of him pitching for USAO on his behalf.

Herrera has been lauded throughout his journey for his work ethic to become a better pitcher, and the road from the Dominican Republic to Iowa, Oklahoma and Massachusetts culminated when he signed as an undrafted free agent with the Indians last August.

“They were following me when I was in college, so I think they just got a report,” Herrera said.

“I couldn’t get drafted, but after that, I got a call.”

He appeared in eight games last season, four each in the Arizona Fall League and with Mahoning Valley, and has become a solid contributor for the Captains in 2017.

It’s a long way from San Juan de la Maguana, but Herrera wouldn’t have it any other way after the trajectory he’s created for himself in a short timespan.

“I didn’t think that was the way to go,” Herrera said. “But it is kind of cool. I love baseball, and this is my passion.

“And I love to do that.”

Herrera