With all of the recent injury troubles the ass-end of the 17-and-43 Baltimore Orioles bullpen has been encountering, David Hernandez might just be the answer. The pickings will be slim but it appears as though David Hernandez is now the master of saves until Alfredo Simon returns.
Hernandez worked a fairly clean ninth inning against the Yankees’ 8th, 9th, leadoff and two-hole hitters. After getting Marcus Thames to fly-out on a first pitch 95mph heater, Hernandez walked Kevin Russo. Hernandez started Russo off with two fastballs that painted the black before issuing four consecutive balls. The lack of aggressiveness exhibited is troublesome as you know Hernandez wanted to sit down the easy part of the Yankees’ order before facing Jeter. However, Jeter flied out to Markakis on a 95mph fastball after seeing a 96mph heater to start the AB. The inning was closed out and the save acquired after Nick Swisher chased a couple 96.5mph fastballs before grounding out to second base.
Hernandez, a converted starter, had averaged 93mph on his fastball in the two previous years but drastically pumped it up for the ninth inning of last night’s game. Throwing only fastballs — two were identified as two-seamers — Hernandez averaged 95.9mph on his four-seamer. In his initial outing as closer, Hernandez also induced his fair share of swing-and-misses (27% whiff) without having to reach into his repertoire of off-speed pitches.
In addition to the fastball, Hernandez has a decent slurve with mostly horizontal action and a show-me change-up. The change-up doesn’t have the dive or tail that you’d expect but it still comes in almost 10mph slower than his straight heat. In most of his ninth inning duties, Hernandez should rely heavily on his pair of fastballs and the slurve while vanquishing the change-up.
Heading forward, if you’re in dire need of saves, Hernandez probably isn’t the worst option. His K-per-9 should improve from the current 5.98 if he’s able to maintain the increased velocity. However, the lack of control (5.62BB/9) probably won’t improve past his 4.09-per-9 of 2009. Many of Hernandez’s plate discipline statistics are concerning but the O-Swing (curr. 21.7%) and Swinging Strike Rate (curr. 7.2%) should trend towards league average (O-Swing: 28%, SwStr: 8%) due to his increased velocity.
