Ariel Hernandez may be the answer to an obscure trivia question in the future, asking what the best $12,500 the Cincinnati Reds ever spent was on. That’s what the organization had to pay in order to acquire him in the Triple-A version of the Rule 5 draft from the Arizona Diamondbacks after the 2015 season.
After posting a 2.18 ERA between the two A-ball levels with 74 strikeouts and 39 walks, the Reds added him to the 40-man roster when the 2016 season ended to protect him from the Major League portion of the Rule 5 draft. Being sure that he was protected from other teams grabbing up an elite level arm led to a call up in late April for the 25-year-old right hander to fill out the bullpen a few days.
That led to a Major League debut of legendary proportion among some Cincinnati Reds fans. 2.2 perfect innings. Five strikeouts. The Brewers had no chance and they looked about as silly as you’ll ever see Major League hitters look. Hernandez topped out at 101 MPH in the game and he topped 100 MPH six times in total. The fastball is not his best pitch, either. That’s the curveball.
Despite such an impressive performance, he was sent back to the minor leagues before making another appearance. It was nearly two months before Ariel Hernandez would return to the big leagues. On Monday night he would make his next appearance in the Majors. He would throw a perfect inning against the Tampa Bay Rays. He needed just nine pitches and recorded a strikeout in the inning. On Tuesday afternoon he would make another appearance for the Reds against Tampa Bay. He needed just four pitches to throw another perfect inning.
Three appearances. 4.2 perfect innings with six strikeouts. He’s averaged 99 MPH with his fastball in that time. He’s had 8 swings-and-misses out of 43 pitches thrown. That’s 18.6%, and it would rank better than every starting pitcher in baseball and 4th overall among qualified relievers in the 2017 season. Now, we are dealing with an incredibly small sample size of pitches here, but it certainly puts some context as to just how dominant Ariel Hernandez has been in his limited action.
In the minor leagues this season, Hernandez has walked 20 batters in 33.0 innings for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. Finding consistency throwing strikes has been what’s kept him in the minor leagues this season despite having unrivaled stuff among the relief options for the Reds. However, in the Major Leagues he’s been a strike throwing machine. 70% of the pitches he’s thrown have been for strikes. In the minor leagues this season, that number has been 58%. The Major League average tends to fall between 64-65%. Maybe it’s just the small sample size, but maybe Ariel Hernandez is just thriving in the big league environment. His performance thus far may warrant more than a look-see this time around.