The LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Group introduced that they’ve signed right-hander Elieser Hernández, as relayed on X by Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.internet. The righty will make an annual wage of $440K. KBO golf equipment are solely allowed to roster two foreign-born pitchers, so the Twins have put righty Casey Kelly on waivers to make room for Hernández.
Hernández, 29, as soon as regarded like he was rising as a viable rotation candidate with the Marlins however has endured his share of struggles lately. He began 17 instances for the Fish over 2020 and 2021, logging 77 1/3 innings with a 3.84 earned run common. He struck out 26.3% of batters confronted in that point and restricted walks to a 5.7% clip.
Sadly, he hasn’t been close to that type of kind since then. He struggled in 2022, getting bumped to the bullpen and in addition to the minors at instances, ending the yr with a 6.35 ERA on the main league degree. He was traded to the Mets going into the 2023 season however that ended up being a misplaced yr for him as a shoulder pressure prevented him from pitching within the majors and restricted him to simply 9 1/3 minor league frames pitched on a rehab task.
Right here in 2024, he spent a while with the Dodgers and Brewers. He has a 6.32 ERA in 15 2/3 innings on the main league degree and a 2.83 ERA in 28 2/3 innings in Triple-A. He just lately elected free company after being designated for task by Milwaukee and can now search for a rebound abroad.
Loads of pitchers have been in a position to reinvent themselves within the KBO and have then come again to Main League Baseball, together with Josh Lindblom, Merrill Kelly and Chris Flexen. The newest success story is Erick Fedde, who received MVP within the KBO final yr and parlayed that right into a two-year take care of the White Sox. He’ll make $15MM on that pact and appears more likely to be traded to a contender since he has a 2.99 ERA via 19 begins this yr. That might be an absolute best-case state of affairs for Hernández however there’s loads of precedent for guys happening this street and doing nicely for themselves.
As for Kelly, 34, he pitched for a number of MLB golf equipment final decade however has been with the LG Twins since 2019. He has a 3.25 ERA in nearly 1,000 innings for that membership however his ERA has jumped to 4.51 this yr. He was putting out 23% of batters confronted in 2022 however that quantity dropped to 17.3% final yr and is all the way down to 13.9% in 2024.
