Daysbel Hernandez spent most of 2024 pitching with Gwinnett, however when referred to as upon for the Braves in a deep bullpen, he delivered a handful of memorable moments, typically aided by the strikeout.
How acquired
Hernandez has been with the membership since signing out of Cuba in 2017.
What had been the expectations?
Hernandez made his debut in 2023 with the Braves and flashed some fairly cool stuff in 3 2⁄3 innings of labor, putting out an excellent 30 % of batters he confronted. Sadly, he additionally walked 15 % of batters he confronted and allowed a homer within the course of, giving him a wonky 167 ERA-, 139 FIP-, and 94 xFIP- throughout the cup of espresso. He then got here to Spring Coaching 2024 trying to safe a spot in a really deep bullpen, however provided that he had choices remaining and a whole lot of different guys didn’t, it was off to Gwinnett he went. On condition that he was a reasonably dominant reliever within the minors in 2023, it was most likely pretty cheap to count on that Hernandez can be a tremendous reduction possibility, supplied he truly discovered a possibility.
2024 outcomes
Ultimately, 2024 was form of extra of the identical for Hernandez, however form of not. He threw 41 2⁄3 innings for Gwinnett and 18 innings for the massive league membership. At Gwinnett, his strikeout price slipped a bit, and he had a reasonably undominant 3.79 FIP and 4.41 xFIP. Within the majors, although, he blew guys away with a 35.1 % strikeout price… however once more with a 13.5 % stroll price. Nonetheless, that strikeout price was excessive sufficient to offer him a 60 ERA-, 54 FIP-, and 85 xFIP-, which was a reasonably good thing to see contemplating that he was largely spinning his wheels at Triple-A.
He pitched nicely sufficient down the stretch, banking 0.5 fWAR, that he discovered himself on the Postseason roster and even labored 2 1⁄3 innings within the Wild Card Spherical in San Diego. His 0.5 fWAR had him tied with Pierce Johnson for sixth on the workforce in reduction manufacturing, which is fairly spectacular contemplating that he was up and down all season (recalled 5 totally different occasions over the course of the season).
What went proper?
Hernandez had a few blowups to sorta skew his numbers on the entire, however he was largely good for the Braves this previous season at any time when they’d name his quantity. There was a notable mess towards the Dodgers on September 16, however from that second on, he labored 7.1 innings (together with the playoffs) with a depraved 12/2 strikeout to stroll ratio and no runs charged to his ledger. It’s straightforward to dream on him as a key piece of this bullpen if he can constantly throw strikes.
Additionally, his Baseball Savant overview graphic is humorous:
Mainly, there was so much to love. His slider and fastball each had sub-.300 xwOBAs and excessive whiff charges, and his fastball succeeded regardless of poor location as a result of it ticks a whole lot of the bins wanted for achievement, together with good two-plane motion.
Two of his outings had been notably notable. On June 29, he threw a scoreless prime of the tenth regardless of the primary batter advancing the free runner to 3rd, due to some first rate defensive work by each Travis d’Arnaud and Hernandez himself:
Hernandez struck out the subsequent batter, and the Braves went on to stroll that recreation off within the backside of the inning.
Then, on September 22, Hernandez had a reasonably epic look, approaching with a one-run lead, the bases loaded, and one out. He did this, which was a reasonably superb pitch:
After which, he obtained very lucky to protect the lead, in a recreation the Braves finally gained by that very same rating:
What went improper?
When you take away his September 16 look towards LA by which he recorded one out with three walks and three runs scored, his numbers look even higher. Sadly, that outing nonetheless occurred.
One other disappointing outing, by means of not an excessive amount of fault of his personal, got here on Could 21, when he began the sixth with a one-run lead. The inning began with a two-base error on a routine pop-up (thanks, Zack Brief), and after a groundout, Hernandez hung up a few sliders that led to liner singles. He then obtained out of the body, together with putting out Cody Bellinger, however that was how he obtained his solely meltdown of the 12 months (thanks, Zack Brief).
2025 outlook
Relying on what the Braves do with the bullpen the remainder of the winter, Hernandez figures to be within the bullpen combine as soon as once more in 2025, although the truth that he has choices as soon as once more threatens him with extra Gwinnett responsibility. The lack of Joe Jimenez to knee surgical procedure creates a void within the later innings, and former bullpen fixture A.J. Minter is now a free agent. Hernandez has the stuff and potential to be a extremely good reliever within the majors, however trimming down the free passes shall be a should if he desires to stay long-term.
His projections proper now are befitting of a generic reliever, which most likely is sensible as a counterbalance between him being meh in Gwinnett this 12 months, him having a extremely excessive ceiling given his stuff, and the ever-present management and command points.
