The Milwaukee Brewers and free agent pitcher Elieser Hernández agreed to a one-year Major League contract after he and the Los Angeles Dodgers parted ways earlier in the week.
Hernández elected to become a free agent on Wednesday after the Dodgers had designated him for assignment and outrighted him from the 40-man roster. He appeared in five games for the Dodgers, making one start, with a 8.38 ERA in 9.2 innings.
Hernández signed a Minor League contract with the Dodgers in the offseason with an invite to Spring Training and began the year in Triple-A Oklahoma City before being added to their active roster.
The Dodgers’ overall health in the starting rotation and in the bullpen has been improving greatly as of late and is only expected to get better as time goes on, which reduced the need for Hernández’s presence on the 40-man roster.
He now joins a Brewers team that is leading the National League Central division by a relatively comfortable margin and should be competing for a playoff spot down the stretch.
As a staff, they have the 10th best ERA in baseball. Their bullpen has been their greatest strength as it has been a top-5 unit, but their rotation has been around the middle of the pack after trading away Corbin Burnes in the offseason.
With the Dodgers, Hernández demonstrated his versatility as a pitcher with an ability to pitch in a starting role or out of the bullpen as a short or multi-inning reliever.
His clearest path to a regular role is most likely in the rotation, as the Brewers have dealt with a rash of injuries to their starters.
Elieser Hernández’s time with the Dodgers
Hernández made a good first impression with the Dodgers. With the team in need of a spot start, he gave them six quality innings against the San Francisco Giants back in May.
He was unable to repeat that type of quality in any of his next four appearances as a reliever, with only one scoreless outing out of those four.
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