The Nationals have inked veteran reliever David Hernandez, according to the Baseball America transactions log. (BA stalwart Matt Eddy has handed the controls over to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle.)
Details aren’t available, but it’s surely a minor-league deal for the 34-year-old hurler. Hernandez is coming off of an especially trying campaign in which he carried a putrid 8.02 ERA over 42 2/3 innings with the Reds. He failed to turn things around in a late stint at Triple-A with the Yankees.
Thing is, little about Hernandez’s effort suggested those excruciating results. He racked up 11.2 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9 while carrying career highs in swinging-strike rate (14.7%), chase rate (35.3%), and first-strike rate (65.2%). Hernandez allowed more homers than you’d like, but 1.48 per nine hardly stood out in a season of the long ball.
In large part, Hernandez seems to have been the victim of poor fortune. He allowed a hefty .393 batting average on balls in play and carried a meager 54.5% strand rate. Statcast measurements indicate that opponents didn’t hit the ball any harder than usual. He was kicked around for a .376 wOBA that dwarfed the .318 xwOBA that the contact quality suggested.
The Nats will see in camp whether Hernandez deserves a shot at turning things around. He’s surely a better option than his 2019 ERA would suggest, though it remains to be seen whether he’ll warrant a pen slot in D.C.
Nats have been on it as of late! Go get JD and Stammen and repeat 2019!
Poor Fortune? Let me explain something. Nobody, and I mean nobody posts an ERA over 8.00, and can justify that by claiming, “Hey, I was just unlucky!”
IDK the .393 BABIP does say that he was unlucky, get him infront of a better defense and he can have a 4.00 era.
.393 BABIP that’s ludicrous, there’s nothing wrong with him, he will probably have a fine year like he had in 2017 & ’18.
Or maybe, when he does get the ball over the plate, it is very, very hittable and with authority.
Then look at his real-world weighted on base average of .376 versus his expected weighted on base average (which takes into account opponent quality of contact) or .316. The dude isn’t a relief ace by any means but it’s hard to find any player with stats that look as fluky as Hernandez’s last year.
Or maybe he’s just throwing them where the hitters can smack the crap out of them?
I think BABIP is seriously misconstrued by the “experts.”
Much more likely than not, a high babip for a pitcher means that hitters are seeing their pitches well and are hitting them hard. Babip is much better in determining luck with batters.
FIP was a 4.34. The unlucky part seems to be he was working with the rest of the Reds players in the field
Reds as a team had 8th best ERA in the league last year.
Being a Reds fan, this is so untrue. Its not like every time he pitched, the defense just decided to stop playing.
Hernandez was just plain horrible. He pretty much loaded the bases almost every outing, then give up a bases clearing double.
Career ERA barely above 4 and carried a 2.53 ERA the previous year. I’m sure it wasn’t fully bad luck– maybe he was tipping his pitches or something– but a .393 BABIP is pretty extraordinary for a pitcher with his track record. There’s gotta be more to it.
I don’t know what his stats were like before Skaggs passed away, but I remember seeing that Hernandez was one of the players deeply affected by his passing.
24.43 ERA, 14.36 FIP, 8.77 xFIP over said stretch.
fangraphs.com/players/david-hernandez/4259/game-lo…
Always good to have veteran pitchers stashed in triple a. Good to have the experience stashed away in case of emergency
Watching him as a Reds fan, he got overworked quickly.
Once he was overworked he would throw meatballs.
Cause of most of the Reds losses.
Hey, The guy had great stats
Except an 8.02 ERA. Ha. !
Next headline signing: Nats Sign… (insert name here). Is there anyone they aren’t signing right now? (It’s an expression for the literal people out there, please do not give me the names). It’s great to see teams this active and trying to win!
Missed half of July with shoulder fatigue, but had reached his peak by the 3rd week of May. Had a similar IL stint in 2018, but I suspect it’s getting harder for him to snap back into form at his age.
He trying to play for every team with red on their jerseys?
Runs out to the mound, trys to catch his breath while pitching. Good luck!
you’re thinking of Jared Hughes, Hernandez does not do that
Always thought he was just average dime a dozen middle reliever and would always hated seeing him in games when he was on Philiies. Doesn’t hurt the Nats to sign him no harm in minor league deals.
The guy just doesn’t go away lol
Hernandez was very good for the Reds in 2018 with a 2.53 ERA. 2019 started well, then the wheels fell off. Seems like he could regain form with more moderate use.
Go Cubs Go
The way David Bell used Hernandez and the rest of his bullpen early in the season definitely had an effect on them later on. I only hope he learned from last year’s mistakes.
Choo choo