Baltimore Orioles Hard-Throwing Reliever Clears Waivers, Outrighted To AAA

After parts of four seasons in the big leagues with the Boston Red Sox, 26-year-old left-handed reliever Darwinzon Hernandez was acquired by the Baltimore Orioles last month, only to be designated for assignment last week upon the acquisition of Cole Irvin.

But the Orioles will get to keep Hernandez around, as he's cleared waivers

LHP Darwinzon Hernandez has cleared outright waivers, been assigned to Triple-A Norfolk and been invited to Major League Spring Training by #Orioles
— Jake Rill (@JakeDRill) February 2, 2023

Hernandez has been outrighted to their Triple-A team in Norfolk, and will get a chance to make the team at big league camp at Spring Training.

The Venezuelan product has a career 5.06 ERA in 85.1 innings with the Red Sox over four seasons. He's flashed some serious bat-missing stuff, with a sky-high strikeout rate of 14 K/9. But he also walks an inordinate amount of batters, with 7.7 free passes per nine. Last season he walked an absolutely silly 10.8 per nine innings (though he was only around for 6.2 innings).

In fact, of pitchers with 50 or more innings pitched in the past four years, Hernandez has the highest walk rate in the majors.

The Orioles hope they'll be able to harness that heat, and make Hernandez another hard-throwing piece of their bullpen.

Photo: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports