BURLINGTON - The Burlington Herd, members of the Intercounty Baseball League (IBL) announced today that 6'8 right-handed relief pitcher Tyler Herr has signed with the San Rafael Pacifics of the Pacific Association for the remainder of the 2018 season.

To say the departure of Tyler Herr from the Herd bull-pen leaves a big pair of shoes to fill would be overstating the obvious on two levels.  First is the fact that the 6’8” righty from Katy, Texas has had to routinely convert football cleats to baseball spikes in order to find footwear to fit his size 18 feet, when asked about it earlier this season Herr said with a smile "baseball stops at 17, and those just hurt”. Perhaps the only thing larger than Herr’s feet is the impact he had on the back end of the Herd bull-pen.

In 10 appearances spanning 19.1 innings Herr went an impressive 3-0 with 22 K’s, 6 walks and a minuscule ERA of .460.  Perhaps what looms larger at least in the opinion of Herd Field Manager Kevin Hussey is the confidence he brought to the entire pitching staff and team in general,"Tyler made coaching the game a lot easier knowing that once the game got to the 6th inning and we were close or in the lead Tyler was ready to give us a shot to win each and every time he took to the mound."

Tyler Herr was scouted and signed by Herd General Manager Jason McKay during the off-season with the full expectation and support of the first year GM to do everything possible to get him back to pro level baseball. “It’s a double edged sword when bringing in players with extreme talent and desire, why would we as a team, and for that matter a league ‘not’ want this level of talent in our parks for the fans" said Herd General Manager Jason McKay.

Herr becomes the fourth player this season to return to professional baseball from Burlington. McKay says losing Herr is tough but the plan for ‘him’ from day one, as it was for Miller, Plaza, Simonetti and all players looking for that next level.

It would seem the entire league has elevated its offering in 2018 which is the 100th season in IBL history.  Each of the eight teams has an opportunity to win on any given night due to the increase of talent that started to occur a few seasons back with the expansion of imports allowed. 

Some may lament for the days when the IBL was primarily a team with mostly local flavour but McKay thinks a balance can be found.  Of the regular nine positional starters on the Herd McKay has coached six of them in Junior baseball in Burlington Ontario, ”we have an incredible homegrown talent pool to draw from right here in Burlington, not to mention Oakville and other parts of the Halton Region, supplement that with high level pro imports and the level of baseball and overall experience that can be enjoyed locally goes unmatched by any league in Canada”.