The Tigers have claimed right-hander Carlos Hernández off waivers from the Phillies, according to announcements from both clubs. Philadelphia had designated him for assignment last week. Detroit had an open 40-man roster spot due to designating righty John Brebbia for assignment yesterday. Hernández is out of options, so the Tigers will need to open an active roster spot once he reports to the club.
Hernández, 28, has big velocity but hasn’t always been able to translate it into results. After working in a swing role with the Royals from 2020 to 2022, he seemed to be breaking out as a reliever in the first half of 2023. Through August 1st of that year, he had thrown 54 innings with a 3.67 earned run average, 30.2% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate.
Unfortunately, he posted a 10.69 ERA in his final 16 innings that year. In 2024, he battled some shoulder soreness and spent the first two months of the season on the injured list. When he was reinstated, the Royals shuttled him to Triple-A and back. He posted a 3.30 ERA in the big leagues that year but with subpar strikeout and walk rates of 20.9% and 12.4% respectively. He also had a 5.40 ERA in his minor league work.
He came into 2025 out of options and didn’t make the Kansas City roster out of camp, which led him to the waiver wire and a claim by the Phillies. He logged 25 2/3 innings for the Phils this year with a 5.26 ERA, 18.7% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate. Though he hasn’t been able to execute, the stuff is enticing, with Hernández averaging just under 98 miles per hour on his fastball this year while also throwing a splitter, slider and knuckle curve.
Perhaps the Tigers feel they have a path to help him better harness that stuff. Or perhaps he’s just available when they want a fresh arm. Righty Will Vest departed yesterday’s game due to some discomfort in the pinky finger of his throwing hand, per Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic. Perhaps he will require a stint on the injured list, opening a hole in the big league bullpen. Since the Tigers had an open 40-man spot anyway, claiming Hernández is perhaps a bit of insurance for Vest.
It’s also possible that the Tigers plan to put Hernández back on waivers shortly with the hope of passing him through unclaimed. The Tigers have the best record in baseball and therefore the final waiver priority, meaning the other clubs just passed on him. Hernández has between three and five years of big league service time, meaning he has the right to reject an outright assignment but would have to forfeit the remainder of his $1.16MM salary in order to do so. For now, he’ll report to the Tigers and try to put some good outings together for them.
Photo courtesy of Kyle Ross, Imagn Images
Thank God they got rid of John Brebbia
D.D still looking out for Detroit. GO TIGERS !
Adding to the chaos.
[Chains broken meme]
Elly
Extreme depth option, if that.
Tiger pitching coach Chris Fetter and his assistants Robin Lund and Juan Nieves seem to know how to work with these guys. I’m guessing they see something fixable here, although throwing strikes is hard to teach. But if he doesn’t work out, they could try to pass him to Toledo or DFA.
How so? Brebbia was a waste. They couldn’t fix Maeda or Manning. I guess you consider sending Brieske to Toledo a success? How about Haniturd? Yeah the pitching coaches can work magic alright. lol lol lol
Some players like Brebbia and Maeda are just done and you can’t help them out much. However, look what they did for Jack Flaharty. Baltimore pretty much ruined him and Detroit with their team of coaches helped him to become the pitcher he is now. It just isn’t at the major league level but Detroi employees more coaches in the minors than a lot of teams. Do you think that Reece Olson was ready for the majors when traded to the Tigers from the Brewers. No they did some things for him at W Michigan and then on to Erie and he was soon on to the Tigers. They said he was very teachable and a guick learner. The coaches have to point what they see but the pitcher has to be willing to listen to them to become better. I dont think they have given up on Madden, Brieske, and Hantifert yet either the pitching coaches at Toledo will work with them.
Brieske, the 27th rounder they turned into a serviceable reliever last year? Hanifee and Tyler Holton, the waiver wire pickups? Yeah, that’s pretty magical to get something out of them.
Worth a flyer. Fetter & Co may be able to correct his game.
Relievers can be very day and night year to year. Maybe because they don’t have as many pitches per outing to try to re-establish their delivery, spin, velo, etc.
Brebbia didn’t work out. Oh well. Replace the arm and move on.
If Fetter and his team can fix him before the deadline then maybe they have added that bullpen arm they need on the cheap. If not then move on and go grab another solid bullpen arm at the deadline.
Good luck with that.
Nice Tigers debut for Hernandez: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K, 98mph