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By Jeff Lantz
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Thursday, February 14, 2008 |
Iowa high schooler B.J. Hermsen has the skills, tools and grades
 Everything B.J. Hermsen does, he does well.
As the quarterback for West Delaware (Iowa) High School, he led the Hawks to the state championship game as a sophomore.
On the basketball court, the 6-6 Hermsen was named all-conference as a freshman.
But it is on the baseball field, particularly the pitcher’s mound, where Hermsen does his best work.
With a good feel for three pitches, the 230-pound right-hander has dominated the class- 3A level. In 2007, Hermsen was unbeaten, going 8-0 with a 1.50 ERA. His season was highlighted by a no-hitter against Saydel in the Iowa High School State Tournament.
“That was a great accomplishment not only for myself, but it also helped our team reach it’s goal of advancing at state,” said Hermsen, who was named to the 2007 Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association “Super Team” as a junior.
But dominating on the baseball field is nothing new for Hermsen, who was named to the
All-State baseball team as a freshman and has won 24 games on the hill for the Hawks in three years of varsity action.
“He’s very polished as a pitcher,” said University of Iowa recruiting coordinator Ryan Brownlee. “And at that class level, he really stands out.”
While Hermsen and his Hawks teammates play at the class 3A level (the second-highest class for Iowa high schools), he also has fared well on the national scene, participating in the AFLAC All-American Game in San Diego and at the Perfect Game National Showcase in Cincinnati.
“It was great competing against the best players in the country,” Hermsen said. “We don’t always face the best competition in Iowa, so I was able to compete against the best.”
Apparently, the scouts felt Hermsen held his own. Baseball America rated him the #28 prospect in high school in the United States, while Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based Perfect Game had him ranked #16 in the nation.
For now, the biggest beneficiary of Hermsen’s considerable talents is West Delaware baseball coach Mike Morrison, who knew he would have a gem when he began keeping tabs on Hermsen as early as fifth grade.
“He was throwing 88-89 mph as a freshman,” Morrison said. “I told his parents then that if he continued to grow and gain velocity at that rate, he could really be something.”
Morrison added that Hermsen’s attitude makes him even more valuable.
“He’s a great kid that doesn’t think he’s any different than anyone else on the team,” Morrison said. “He works his butt off, does his job and is a great leader.”
Even more impressive is Hermsen’s effort off the field, where he is an honor roll student with a 3.9 grade point average. His ACT score of 24 was certainly enough to gain him admission to Oregon State University, where coach Pat Casey has led the Beavers to back-to-back NCAA National Championships in baseball.
“I was really impressed with Coach Casey,” Hermsen said, who took in the Oregon State-UCLA football game in Corvallis on his recruiting trip. “The campus is amazing and the town is pretty small, which is something I’m used to.”
Hermsen’s signing with Oregon State was regarded by Casey as the highlight of their 11-player recruiting class.
“Hermsen was the only right-handed high school pitcher we recruited,” Casey told OSUBeavers.com.
The only thing that might derail Hermsen’s plans to join the Beaver Nation in August is the Major League Baseball draft in June, where Hermsen likely is to be selected early—at least within the first few rounds. In fact, with Iowa high school baseball being a summer sport that concludes after the draft, Hermsen might be forced to leave the Hawks before he has a shot at another state tournament appearance.
“We were good before he joined our program, and we’ll be good after him, but he’s done great things here,” Morrison said. “The impact he has on the younger kids in this town and how he encourages them is just outstanding.”
Who knows, maybe there’s another Iowa fifth-grader out there who wants to be just as good—at everything—as B.J. Hermsen.
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