Red Sox: Boston may move Darwinzon Hernandez to starting rotation

With Chris Sale out of the rotation for the foreseeable future, the Boston Red Sox may plug in Darwinzon Hernandez into the fourth starter slot.

Last week, Darragh McDonald of MLB Trade Rumors ruminated on who the Red Sox would call upon to fill the injured Chris Sale’s spot in the rotation. Interestingly, McDonald noted that “the opener strategy was on the table.” The Red Sox were already lacking a fifth starter after salary dumping David Price. So with Sale’s recent injury, they essentially need to fill two slots.

McDonald mentions that the Sox may be looking at using Darwinzon Hernandez as an option to start. Hernandez has a ton of upside. In six professional baseball seasons, he has a respectable 3.51 ERA, and 549 K’s in 451 innings pitched. He boasts a 96 MPH fastball, an 82 MPH slider, and a 77 MPH curve.

The discrepancy of speed from his three featured pitches means Hernandez is able to keep hitters guessing. But with the Red Sox recently signing former Astros righty Collin McHugh, presumably to start, do the Red Sox even NEED to switch Hernandez’ role? There are pros and cons to the move.

Pro: You’re replacing a hard-throwing lefty with a hard-throwing lefty.

When Sale is on, he can hit 98 on the radar gun. Darwinzon doesn’t throw quite the gas that Sale does, but 96 ain’t nothing to sneeze at. Plus, with Sale, you had the stability of a guaranteed start every fifth day. I think I speak for every Red Sox fan when I say that a big market team of Boston’s pedigree shouldn’t have to resort to either a “closer by committee” nor an “opener” every fifth day.

I mean, in 2004, Boston’s fifth starter was Bronson Arroyo who had a 4.03 era. Last season, only Eduardo Rodriguez had a lower ERA than that. Hernandez only started one game for the Sox last season, going three innings giving up three hits and walking FIVE en route to a four-run outing.

Not too impressive. But his minor league stats show that he can be a serviceable starter. In 86 career minor league starts, Hernandez has a 3.50 ERA with 468 K’s in 409 innings pitched. If Hernandez can replicate those stats at the big league level, It’s a no-brainer to plug him into the number four or five spot. That is of course if he can get the ball over the plate.

Con: He walks a ton of guys, and you’d be losing a lefty out of the bullpen.

More from Red Sox News

• Former MLB All-Star slams Red Sox for ’embarrassing’ treatment of Rafael Devers
• Red Sox invited group of players you’ve probably never heard of to Spring Training
• Jeter Downs’ official departure will continue to haunt Red Sox
• Aaron Judge’s Yankees return a brutal reminder of what could have been for Red Sox
• Red Sox should capitalize on Yankees’ latest roster move

Unfortunately, Darwinzon owns a career 1.435 WHIP. That’s high in itself. His major league WHIP? .3 points higher than that. Ouch. 26 walks in 30 Major League innings pitched doesn’t make for a fun day at the ballpark. If Darwinzon is coming out of the pen and only has to face a batter or two (or three because of the idiotic new three-batter minimum rule) walks may not necessarily be so magnified if he can battle out of ⅔ of an inning.

But if he’s trying to get through six or seven innings and he’s issuing free passes at a two per inning clip, we have some serious problems on our hands. The only other viable lefty currently on the Sox roster is Josh Taylor, who had a pretty nifty 2019 (3.04 ERA, 62 K’s in 47 IP). But what if Taylor turns into Ryan Brasier 2.0? If Taylor is ineffective in 2020, then the Sox will have to dig deep to find lefty help in the pen.

Hopefully, Sale will only miss a few April starts before he’s able to contribute to the team. Call me a doomsday prophet all you want, but I don’t see Sale joining the rotation until late May at the earliest. If that’s the case, Ron Roenicke should give Hernandez the chance to prove he can cut it in the rotation at the major league level. With little rotation depth, the Sox may as well throw some of these younger guys to the wolves to see who can battle through adversity.