The Braves are selecting the contract of right-hander Elieser Hernández, according to a team announcement. The club has an open spot on its 40-man roster, so no corresponding move is needed there. To make space on the active roster, fellow righty Owen Murphy is being optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Hernández, 31, joined the Braves on a minor league deal back in November. He spent most of 2025 with the LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization, for whom he posted a 4.23 ERA across 14 starts. Hernández’s 26.4% strikeout rate was above average, ranking 12th in that league among pitchers with at least 50 innings. However, the middling run prevention led the Twins to cut him loose in August. Hernández signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays that month but posted a 7.91 ERA in 19 1/3 innings at Triple-A before electing free agency after the season and eventually joining Atlanta.
Hernández has been better this year than he was with the Blue Jays’ top affiliate, but a notch below his output in the KBO. In 76 1/3 innings for Gwinnett, he has a decent 21.6% strikeout rate and an 8.1% walk rate, but also a 4.83 ERA. Hernández started most of his appearances through the first two months but has worked out of the bullpen in all but one appearance since June 9th. Those results – a 4.02 ERA in 15 2/3 innings – have been better but not drastically so.
It’s simply a temporary move to give the Braves an extra bullpen arm. Murphy was recalled on July 11th and has since made two appearances. He came out of the ‘pen for three innings that day, then drew a start yesterday against the Rangers. Murphy surrendered three runs (two earned) in 2 2/3 innings and threw 49 pitches in the process, so he wouldn’t be available for a few days anyway no matter his role.
With Martín Pérez set to return from the injured list early next week, Murphy was no longer needed in the rotation, so he’ll go down to the minors to continue getting work. The 22-year-old rates as Atlanta’s No. 5 prospect according to MLB.com, and he has a 3.88 ERA and an above-average 27.0% strikeout rate at Triple-A. He’s likely to get called up again as the need arises, though barring an injury, he’ll need to stay with Gwinnett for at least 15 days this time around. Meanwhile, Hernández’s selection gives the team nine relievers until Pérez’s turn in the rotation, at which point the former may be designated for assignment.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
The revolving door of garbage time pitcher since Chavez left.
We have to try something, our bullpen is tanking.
Turns out when they break camp with a shallow and mostly mid at best rotation that’s not going deep + resting Chris Sale, the pen has to pick up a lot of innings. Who could have seen this coming?! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Where have I seen this before? Revolving door of “The Villages” softball team comes to ATL. Saturday’s “bullpen” game was not the showcase AA expected to demonstrate to other GMs. Why would you trade for Murphy or Ritchie? Again, I get the constraints under which AA operates but consistently using average at best pitchers and utility players in fulltime roles ALWAYS fails. If the goal is to sneak into the post season as a wild card and be immediately eliminated, then he’s on the right path and can say “we succeeded” and don’t wish to compete with the other teams in the NL. I get that there are several AL teams vying for a wild card spot and are reluctant to trade but when did ATL become the Twins? As I felt weeks ago, I believe this is a 4th place team in the NL East because the regulars are under no pressure to perform, especially Riley. One last note–Are we drafting the right body type pitchers? They all look like Maddux without his competitive instinct.
I put the blame on Terry McGuirk. Until the Braves have a different owner who knows how to fill out a complete roster, the GM will be stuck shopping off Temu. The Braves arent getting Skubal nor Gray. Terry McGuirk is an offensive guy and every report Im seeing says the Braves are prioritizing offense at the deadline. Sale is the only pitcher that can go more than 6 innings. The bullpen is burnt. Braves wont hang onto their east lead nor a wildcard if this is their thinking putting offense over pitching.
Simply put, we need a starting pitcher who we can slot into the 2 or 3 slot for the balance of the season and postseason. Having one of our injured arms make a successful return would be a bonus, but we cannot count on that happening.
AJSS looks good so far, but we need someone ahead of him. Id go get Wacha or Ray since they would be cheaper and available.
The idea that this player is going to start games for an MLB team in 2026 is simply remarkable. What does this say about every single prospect in the organization? Is the well that dry? Starting pitching is becoming extinct.
It’s as much an issue of development as anything. The guys they draft probably are talented, but how well are they being prepared for MLB? Kranitz seemed to get veterans to level up a bit, but younger guys, not so much. Maybe things will improve under Hefner. It’s year one.
I also wonder if the Braves obsession with drafting HS arms has backfired, because they all get TJS at some point, which removes two years of than control.
Need to focus more on college guys who have some polish to their game.
Braves have definitely drafted more college arms than high school. Strider, schwelly, Shuster, Waldrep, Cusick, etc. You are definitely off base here.
I think you’re both off to be honest, the Braves have cranked out a ton of pitching and there is still more to come. A lot of teams need to turn to a guy like this for 1 or 2 starts over the course of a season.
I wish I could cancel my subscription when my team SUCKS! Sling lets you do thaaaaaaaat
Will Sling let the Braves change managers, because the one we have sucks? Emptying the entire bullpen will lead to finding out that one or more of your relievers are horrible! When a reliever comes in and pitches great, then you take them out, then take that person out, so on and so on until there is nobody left. If they pitch well please let them keep pitching. The more different guys you put in, the better chance you give the other team to find one they can be successful against.
When your starter can’t go deep he has no choice. These guys you want to just leave in there aren’t built to go more than 1 inning.
If he did that and they gave up runs going back out for a second inning you would be in here saying it was a dumb move to send him back out for another inning.
There’s a lot of valid complaints to make against this team but this isn’t one of them.
If you’re specifically talking about Saturday it was the third guy out of the pen where the wheels came off. Not exactly emptying the bullpen by the time it happened. Reality is when your starter can’t get out of the 3rd you’re gonna have a revolving door that follows. The only person he could have left in longer was Ritchie and that’s hardly been a reliable source of multiple clean innings. You’re basically flipping a coin either way.
The violin playing is only getting more depressing on the Titanic…I mean, in Atlanta. LOL
As long as AA keeps believing he’s the smartest guy in the room, don’t expect major upgrades at the deadline..
Alex can only shop where Terry McGuirk allows him too
That always depends on who is in the room.
LG Twins Legend
they play 17 games in a row so you will see a lot of shuffling from here to Gwinnett
Did Cookie pitch the night before for Gwinnett, or have they finally realized he’s cooked?