The Diamondbacks have traded right-hander Junior Fernández to the Brewers, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Nashville. It’s unclear what Arizona gets in return, but since they signed Fernández to a minor league deal in the offseason, it was probably just a nominal amount of cash.
Fernández, 29, has long had intriguing stuff. He tossed 54 big league innings from 2019 to 2022. His 5.17 earned run average in that time wasn’t especially impressive but both his four-seamer and sinker averaged over 98 miles per hour in his most recent season. He also featured a slider and changeup in the upper 90s. Like a lot of power arms, control has been an issue. Fernández has walked 13.9% of the batters he has faced in the majors so far.
For the past few years, he’s been stuck in the minors and also spent 2024 in Japan. He’s still flashing the big velo but also the lack of control. He signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks this winter and was in camp with them last month. He faced 22 batters and walked three of them without striking anyone out. At the end of camp, the Triple-A Reno Aces put him on the development list, so he hasn’t pitched in any official minor league games yet this year.
The Brewers have a good reputation when it comes to getting good results out of pitchers, so perhaps they see some way to make it all work for Fernández. The skills are there but he hasn’t been able to fully utilize them yet. If he eventually gets up to the majors, he is out of options.
Photo courtesy of Allan Henry, Imagn Images
The next Trevor Megill, as the current Trevor Megill battles to stay in the majors.
That sort of tracks as the current Fernandez has struggled to make it back to the majors…now you have 2 struggling pitchers
Try Shrooms, maybe you’d be a fungi.
Maybe! Lol
Junior Fernández just sounds like a Brewer… in 2026 or 1987.
We had Julio Machado, good reliever until he committed murder in Puerto Rico and was sentenced 20 years or so. He’s out though. Good pitcher:
I thought they added Jose Fernandez and we’re going to move him into the OF.
The bullpen certainly needs an arm or two.
A Turang trade has to be on the back burner simmering like a pot of beans.
I am looking forward to seeing how the Brewers pull it together.
They’ve won three straight playing their brand of “small ball” and taking advantage of opponents’ mistakes. Megill has been fine the last two games, and Colman Crow was outstanding in his first start. Still missing three sluggers but finding a way.
Remember his father, Senior Fernandez?
@cheesemanforever – Thank you for pointing that out. The bullpen was struggling for afew reasons, but the main one IMO was the SP only going 4 innings in the early going. They were taxed early and often. Patrick, Crow, Sporat (sp?) finally went well into the 6th and here we are. Normal roles for the relievers equals more quality bullpen appearances.