The Braves selected the right-hander’s contract Elieser Hernández from Triple-A Gwinnett, according to a team announcement. On the left Connor Thomas Gwinnett was elected in his place.
It’s the second major league outing this season with Atlanta for Hernández, a former Marlins pitcher who spent the 2024-25 seasons with the LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization. Coincidentally, that is the same group Carlos Carrasco signed earlier this month after jumping on the DFA carousel in Atlanta. Hernández will likely step into that role as the Braves’ 41st successful man, or it remains to be seen if they’ll move him and write him off the roster like they did Carrasco (who was assigned to Atlanta seven times in 11 months but repeatedly traded to new minor league deals).
Hernández pitched three shutout innings with the Braves during his major league career. He struck out two batters and walked three. The 31-year-old righty pitched 76 1/3 innings with a 4.89 ERA, a 21.6% strikeout rate and an 8.1% walk rate at Gwinnett this season.
Earlier in his career, Hernández looked like an interesting rotation option down in Miami. Starting in 2020-21, he started 17 games (77 1/3 innings) and posted a 3.84 ERA with a 26.3% strikeout rate and a 5.7% walk rate. He never matched that production. In 81 MLB innings since then, he has posted a 6.11 earned run average with a terrible strikeout and walk rate.
Tonight’s game between the Braves and the Mets has been postponed due to weather. They’ll play a doubleheader tomorrow, and MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports that the club is expected to perform well. AJ Smith-Shawver from IL 60 days to start the first part of that double bill. He has been out since last season after having UCL surgery. Hernández will provide Atlanta with length behind Smith-Shawver in what will be his first MLB start in 14 months. He played five minor league rehab games but never pitched more than 4 1/3 innings in any outing.
