Daysbel Hernandez was optioned to Gwinnett on the last day of the first “half” of the season. He suffered through a pretty rough outing the day before against the Cardinals and was replaced on the roster by Wander Suero.
Let’s just start this by saying a couple of things. Daysbel Hernandez has been one of the Braves’ top high-leverage arms on the season. He has a phenomenal 2.10 ERA with a 1.30 WHIP. He has had issues with walks, but the results have been incredible. Actually, they’ve been really incredible when you consider the command issues.
The Braves were going with a bullpen day the game after Daysbel nearly lost it for us in the eighth with his three-walk outing. Daysbel Hernandez had pitched on 07/09, 07/10, and 07/12. Both he and Iglesias were likely unavailable for the final game of the first half, and the Braves were rolling with a bullpen game. It makes it tough when you don’t have a starting pitcher and you are down two in the bullpen.
Hernandez has options and the Braves exercised one to make room.
Did the Braves Option Daysbel Hernandez to Gwinnett Because He Has Command Issues?
Purely speculative here, but I will guess the answer is no. The Braves have been well aware of his propensity to hand out free passes. That hasn’t stopped them from trusting him in high-leverage situations all season long. He also makes up for the walks by allowing very few hits. His stuff is ELECTRIC. I love to mention this, but I wrote about him several years ago when he was in Single-A with the Firefrogs. After I saw him pitch, I assumed that this was our future closer.
Daysbel Hernandez’s fastball is incredible. It reaches triple digits when he wants it, and opposing hitters have just a .073 average against it. Let me break that math down for you: Daysbel has thrown his fastball 240 times this season and allowed just three hits off it.
He sets up his fastball with his 89 mph slider. He’s thrown the slider 310 times with a .211 average off it. The fastball is his strikeout pitch.
So, yes, Daysbel has an obscene 7.2 walks per nine innings (or 18.5% of the batters he has faced), but he’s only allowing 4.5 hits per nine. Do you realize how hard it is to walk 7.2 dudes per nine and still have a reasonable WHIP (1.30)?
Outside of the St. Louis game on July 12, it hasn’t really been much of an issue (two blown saves on the year), nor has it swayed Snit from turning to the fireballer when the game is on the line.
I think it was because he and Iggy were unavailable for the bullpen game, and Hernandez had options. We’d love to see his walks go down, but there is no doubt he’s been one of the best pitchers in the Braves’ pen this season.
Daysbel is eligible to return to the big-league roster after 15 days. I think we’ll see him back soon.
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