The Dodgers are going to call up right-hander Julian Fernández, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The club will need to make corresponding moves to get the righty onto the active and 40-man rosters.
Fernández, 29, is a flame-throwing right-hander. He signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in the offseason. He has since thrown 28 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level with a 4.08 earned run average in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He has struck out 25.6% of batters faced and given out free passes at an 8% clip. He is strictly a fastball-changeup guy, with the heater averaging 96.9 miles per hour this year and the change at 85.1 mph.
Despite the intriguing stuff, he hasn’t been able to carve out a huge major league career yet. He did rack up two years of big league service time over 2018 and 2019, though that was due to being plucked in the Rule 5 draft and then requiring Tommy John surgery, spending that whole time on the injured list. He made six appearances for the Rockies in 2021, with a 10.80 ERA, which is the extent of his actual big league action thus far.
He was outrighted off Colorado’s roster in 2022 and finished that year with a 6.63 ERA in the minors. He signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays in 2023 but posted a 10.61 ERA and was released before the end of May. He then spent 2024 in Mexico and put up an ERA of 1.82 there before landing his deal with the Dodgers for 2025.
Fernández has a couple of options remaining, so he can jump into the club’s ever-changing pitching mix and provide some roster flexibility. The Dodgers currently have 12 pitchers on the injured list and have been trying to improvise solutions as the body count has climbed. The upcoming All-Star break will give them a breather and they will presumably make some moves to shuffle things at the deadline. For now, they’ll add Fernández into the equation to see if he can get some big league hitters out.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images
The next Fernando Valenzuela!
Just give us the world series now!
As someone who is associated with sanitation and frequently dealing with the stench of trash, I’m sorry but this move is the right one to make. the signing of Jooboo Pasquale will ensure success in this franchise.
His name is Julian Fernandez? They signed the wrong player, i cant even believe this. Is he good?
Either way, the signing of Jello Pastrami will ensure success in this franchise.
@Jimmy Garbagebag,
Years ago, I knew a chap in London named James Rubbishsack. Any relation?
No, but he went to same high school as Donny Dumpster.
I know both of these men. Rubbishsack owes me at least 50 dollars from the last time he bet at the track (on a horse named Toilet Paper no less) and lost.
I saw Donny last weekend, he was ruffling arround in a garbage can saying he lost his keys which makes no sense because Donny’s car was impounded 3 years ago and he can no longer legally drive.
They need a 40 man roster move but will somehow find a way to not DFA the worst pitcher in baseball Noah Davis
Davis and Fernandez were both too bad to pitch for the Rockies, so what they are doing with a good team like the Dodgers is a mystery.
Dodgers, Brewers, Rays, etc find alot of value in fixing interesting pitchers that poorly run teams like the Rox, and Angels cant.
In reality, they “fix” very few of them. Mostly, they are used for a few innings of mop-up work, and then released.
The Brewers entire pen was made up of guys who had been DFA’d at some point last year. Obviously the majority of waivers claims arent going to amount to much, and end up as cannon fodder.
@AHH-Rox….Tyler Anderson might’ve asked, “What about me?”
Anderson and Yency Almonte both had a bit of success with the Dodgers in recent years after the Rockies dropped them.
You could include Phil Bickford in that group, and maybe a couple of others. They look like brilliant rescue cases until you put them to the context of the dozens of Kleenex tissues they also took on. Also, they didn’t exactly try to hang onto any of those supposedly fixed pitchers. One and done, mostly.
Not fair! Dodgers get all the players…
It was a really successful rule 5 draft pick. Fernandez got free Tommy John surgery and a year of service time out of it.
Meh. Never too excited about a fb/changeup guy
@semut
Ever since MLB banned the spitball, baseball just hasn’t been great. Need to bring it back…
Gaylord Perry posting from the afterlife here.
Looks like Snell and Kopech will be back shortly after the break. Glasgow is starting rehab.
We just need some bulk innings from non core pitchers. At this point the Dodgers are willing to concede a game or two if it means preserving their main relievers for later in the season and postseason.
Obviously it can’t happen too often, but it’s the smart play at this time. Some of their younger arms are starting to show fatigue with inconsistent efforts. They need a chance to recharge to be effective when it matters.
Glasnow has already made 3-4 rehab starts. He went 4 1/3 innings in his last one and his next start could be with the Dodgers.
I agree with the part about saving pitchers for the stretch run and postseason. I assume that’s why they sent Wrobleski down to AAA today too, so they can limit his innings the next month or two, just in case he’s needed later.
Glasnow will make his first start in Milwaukee on Wednesday.