Article: What Colabello & Herrmann Mean To The Red Wings

Chris Colabello and Chris Herrmann were both optioned to the Rochester Red Wings Sunday night and both players joined the Wings during their Memorial Day matinee at Frontier Field, Monday.

So what exactly is the plan for these players while they are in Rochester? Ultimately the goal is to get them back to the parent club in Minnesota. What will their roles be while they're playing with the Red Wings.Download attachment: Frontier Field.jpg

After Monday's 10-5 win over the Syracuse Chiefs, Red Wings manager Gene Glynn spoke about the roles Colabello and Herrmann would play in the Wings lineup. “I'll talk to one of guys from the Twins tonight to see what the plan is. We know what (Chris)Herrmann is going to do, he'll play outfield, maybe first, he's going to catch, just like (Dan) Rohlfing. The big man, Chris (Colabello), is going to play and try to get as many at-bats as he can to get back on top of what he was doing in the month of April in the big leagues. We all know he can hit; as much as we like having him around, we feel for the situation. He's such a positive guy and a positive influence, you know he's always going to play hard. Those guys will be in (playing) as much as anybody, if not more.”

According to Ron Gardenhire, per Mike Berardino, “Chris Herrmann will play center field in games for the Red Wings”. During Herrmann's 11 games in Rochester, he hit .359 with one homer and four RBI's. For Herrmann, it'll be the first time he's played center field since 2010, when he played 11 games there for the Fort Myers Miracle. It appears the Twins want another option in addition to Sam Fuld when he comes back from concussion symptoms, and Aaron Hicks could then be sent to Rochester to work on hitting against right handed pitchers as a right handed batter.

While Chris Colabello played mostly in the outfield with the Twins, it seems to be a good fit for CC to take over the everyday 1B duties while he's with Rochester. The Red Wings everyday 1B, Brad Nelson, ranks last in the International League in batting average, slugging and OPS among first basemen with at least 100 at-bats. During his time in Rochester last year, Colabello hit .352 with 24 homers and 76 RBI's in just 89 games. With such a drastic difference offensively between the two players, CC taking over the first base role with the Wings seems obvious.

With their win today over Syracuse, the Red Wings have improved to 27-22 on the year with their win today and moved into firstplace in the division. Coming into today's game, Rochester had the best ERA in the league at 3.12 and they also have four complete games on the year which also leads the IL. Rochester will play three more games at Frontier Field against the Syracuse Chiefs and then will play four more at home against the Gwinnett Braves.

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