The Yankees announced they’ve claimed reliever Junior Fernandez off waivers from the Pirates. Pittsburgh has designated him for assignment on Tuesday.
Fernandez will bring a blistering fastball to the Yankees — albeit one that has been difficult for the 25-year-old to command and that has not resulted in many strikeouts. Through 54 Major League innings to date, mostly with the Cardinls, Fernandez carries a tepid 5.17 ERA with a pedestrian 18.7% strikeout against a 13.9% walk rate. He’s generated a strong 13.6% swinging-strike rate in his career, however, and his average heater has crept up from 97 mph as a rookie in 2019 to a whopping 99 mph in this past season’s 18 2/3 frames.
Prior to the 2022 season, Fernandez relied exclusively on a four-seamer as his fastball. In 2022, however, he shifted away from that four-seamer in favor of a sinker, holding his sweltering velocity and enjoying an uptick in an already strong ground-ball rate. He’s induced grounders at a 49.4% clip in his career but sat at a gaudy 58.9% clip in 2022. The newly adopted power sinker and massive ground-ball rate is a profile for which the Yankees, in particular, have shown an affinity in recent seasons.
Fernandez is out of minor league options, so the Yankees will either need to attempt to pass him through waivers themselves at some point between now and Opening Day — or else commit to carrying him on their Opening Day roster. If he makes it through the winter on the 40-man roster, Spring Training will serve as an audition for him. In 83 career innings at the Triple-A level, Fernandez has a 4.12 ERA with a 27% strikeout rate against a 10.5% walk rate.
Good luck!
At least we got some bread crumbs back for Miguel Andujar.
Yeah.
Fastball is a great pitch for him, but where’s it going has always been the question
Why? There’s no room on the roster for a high ceiling guy like Ridings, but they will give a roster spot to this guy???
I think Ridings was out of options, could be wrong
Fernandez is also out of options. That was a big reason why the Cardinals DFAd him late in the season, knowing that would be the case for 2023.
So is Fernandez
I don’t think so, I think they were probably just not too optimistic about his health.
It’s the pass through Waiver game.
Two possibilities: 1) Maybe they view Fernandez more highly, or 2) Because they lost Ridings, they’ll attempt to pass Fernandez through waivers at another point, in essence replacing Ridings.
@Lord, add in health. The know Ridings’ shoulder.
Teams have been trying to pass players through waivers at the last minute in the hope they’ll succeed and they can keep them. The Yankees did that with Ridings and lost the bet; the Pirates did that with Fernandez and lost the bet.
Fans always overreact to these type of moves.
Ridings had a memorable debut inning for the Yankees, was more spotty thereafter, and was on the IL all last year,
Why do you love Ridings more than Fernandez?
These guys are what I call lightning in a bottle players, some hit, most miss!
Scouting report from a Pirates fan?
I was surprised to see the Pirates let him go and knew he would be claimed. The Yankees have a good player that is only going to grow with the teams coaching staff. He hits around 93-95 consistently, has nice control, has a good curve and sinker. I think his AAA stats reflect more of his experimentation of new pitches than his actual ability. He does seem like a small frame and hoping he builds out some. The Yankees have a good player on their hands that the Pirates didn’t value as much. Shame.
Thanks
Good Control?
@3Rivers Very good control
Hits 95-98 with sketchy control. Still a good pick up will again be DFAed in hopes he won’t be claimed.
Yes. The Yankees will likely try and pick another moment to pass Fernandez through waivers. The Pirates might even try and claim him back.
Fernandez had to pass through almost every team to get to the Yankees since the waiver claims work in reverse order. The same with Ridings the other day. 27 teams, or thereabouts, had to pass on Ridings for the Mets to claim him.
A good curve and sinker, sounds like they think he can get the big right handed bats in the East out. Yanks will try and tweak him like they did with Holmes.
Only had a brief stint with the Pirates. Cardinals fan here, and I wouldn’t get excited about this pickup. Live arm, poor control. Frustrating pitcher to watch, but maybe they can tap into his potential. Highly doubt that he makes the roster out of Spring Training.
…which is why he passed through waivers all the way to the Yankees. As I noted elsewhere, same with Ridings. The Mets pick 27th in the waiver pool. All the other teams passed on Ridings, including bad teams with bad bullpens. Partially it’s because they’re all trying to finalize 40-man rosters and now the non-tenders. That’s the best time to try and pass a guy like Fernandez and Ridings through, but it’s also a sign they’re viewed as fungible.
Don’t see fungible used very often, nice!
An NFT is a “non fungible token”.
Thanks, sounds a lot like Riddings!
Another young live arm for Blake to work with (assuming he returns). He won’t bring along all, but he brings along a lot.
I was just going to say that Matt Blake could help harness this kid’s potential. Great pickup.
OK, Look outside and see if you see any flying pigs. Yankees claiming guys from the Pirates? It’s Mad I tell you, Mad!
The Pirates can’t attend their own garden, maybe the Yanks can make this guy grow?
Steal of the Offseason. World Series here we come!
Another ground ball pitcher. The Yankees have been steering away from all those strikeout arms when they a prime Chapman, betances and miller.
Huh?
It’s pretty easy to understand, the Yankees seem to be prioritizing ground ball pitchers over strikeout pitchers. Read.
Never mind signing Judge. This move should put the Bronx Bummers over the top!
Time for a new joke book bud.
His HR% this year was 0.0%, and his opponent BA and SLG was .100, so it looks like batters’ main hope of getting on base was from a walk. If Blake can harness this guy’s stuff like he did with Holmes, he could be a much better bet than Ridings, who suffered from extensive shoulder problems.
AVERAGES 99? That’s nuts. Is there anyone else that averages a fastball that high? If he can figure out control (probably won’t if hasn’t by now) then look out. There’s a reason he keeps getting picked up. Clubs love a high heater
Fangraphs puts his average fastball at 98.8 MPH, so they’re rounding up here.
Jacob deGrom’s is 98.9 MPH, and there are twelve other pitchers ranging from 99.0 MPH to 100.9 MPH — on average.
https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=10&type=4&season=2022&month=0&season1=2022&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2022-01-01&enddate=2022-12-31&sort=4,d
Fangraphs puts his average fastball at 98.8 MPH, so they’re rounding up here.
Jacob deGrom’s is 98.9 MPH, and there are twelve other pitchers ranging from 99.0 MPH to 100.9 MPH — on average.
Sounds like a case of claiming and hope to pass through waivers.
When an apparent middling relief pitcher gets the attention of the Yankees 99/100 it’s his GB rate.
Another the man nuttings fault