Guardians Claim Carlos Hernandez

The Guardians claimed right-hander Carlos Hernandez off waivers from the Tigers, according to MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins.  Detroit designated Hernandez for assignment last week. Cleveland also activated reliever Trevor Stephan from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A.

The veteran reliever has now changed teams via waiver claim for the third time in a little over four months.  Hernandez had spent his entire career in the Royals organization before the Phillies claimed him away in March, then the Tigers plucked him off the waiver wire in mid-June.  Both of those teams gave Hernandez some action at the MLB level, and the righty has a 6.69 ERA over 36 1/3 combined innings with Philadelphia (25 games) and Detroit (11 games).

Hernandez’s 20.5% strikeout rate and 10.8% walk rate this year are pretty close to his career marks over six Major League seasons, and Hernandez has a career 5.17 ERA in 292 2/3 innings.  Now out of minor league options, Hernandez can’t be assigned to the minors without first being exposed to waivers, hence his increasingly frequent trips to DFA limbo.

He does have two years of arbitration control remaining, and teams have been interested enough in his stuff to add him on multiple claims now, with the Guardians being the latest to see if Hernandez can offer more with a change of scenery.  Cleveland’s pitching development system could perhaps unlock something in the right-hander, who is still only 28 years old.  Owed just the remainder of a $1.16MM salary for 2025, Hernandez is a pretty inexpensive depth arm to the Guardians’ bullpen.