The Royals have signed right-handed pitcher Junior Fernández to a minor league deal, the crew introduced. He final pitched in MLB throughout the 2022 season.
Fernández signed with the Cardinals as a global free agent in 2014 and made his MLB debut in St. Louis 5 years later. Sadly, he was by no means in a position to set up himself within the Cardinals bullpen. Over elements of 4 seasons with the membership, he pitched to a 5.51 ERA and 4.78 SIERA in 50 2/3 innings of largely low-leverage work.
The Cardinals designated Fernández for task in 2022, and the Pirates scooped him up off of waivers. He made three scoreless appearances for Pittsburgh on the finish of the yr, but it surely wasn’t sufficient to avoid wasting him from one other DFA. After a quick stint within the Yankees group that offseason, Fernández was DFA’d as soon as once more. The Blue Jays have been the subsequent crew to assert him, and, as he certainly got here to count on, the subsequent crew to DFA him just some weeks later. This time, nonetheless, Fernández handed via waivers. The Blue Jays despatched him outright to the minors, the place he pitched to a 5.69 ERA and 5.92 FIP in 42 video games with Triple-A Buffalo. Toronto launched him earlier than the yr was up, and he spent the ultimate weeks of the season pitching at Triple-A within the Nationals group. His 2.79 ERA in 9 2/3 innings was extra spectacular, however his matching 13.6% strikeout and stroll charges have been ugly.
Following the 2023 marketing campaign, Fernández elected free company and signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines of NPB. Sadly, his profession abroad was short-lived. An damage restricted him to only two appearances in Japan earlier than the Marines launched him.
Now getting into his age-28 season, Fernández will look to get again to the majors with the Royals. Whether or not or not he succeeds will probably depend upon his arm well being and velocity. In 2022, Fernández was averaging near 99 mph and commonly hitting triple digits with each his sinker and his four-seam fastball. Regardless of his management points, velocity like that is sufficient to make him an intriguing arm. Nevertheless, his velocity was down a tick whereas he was pitching at Triple-A in 2023. Now, his largely misplaced 2024 season makes it laborious to foretell what to anticipate from his arm in 2025. That stated, the Royals presumably scouted him within the Dominican League, the place he’s been pitching this winter. Regardless of his 6.43 ERA and 16.2% stroll charge in 14 innings of labor, they should have preferred what they noticed sufficient to deliver him on board as bullpen depth for the 2025 season.
