FORT MYERS, Fla. - At times throughout the Grapefruit League season, Darwinzon Hernandez flashed the kind of images that have tantalized both the Red Sox and their fans since his arrival in 2019.
But too many times, the same inconsistencies that have routinely set the lefty back throughout his major league career appeared right the corner.
Now, the Red Sox have decided to take a step back and regroup when it comes to Hernandez.
Hernandez, who appeared in 48 games for the Red Sox last season, has been sent to Triple-A Worcester. The plan is for him to start Opening Day at Jacksonville, pitching two or three innings while staying on a starter's schedule in order to work in between appearances.
"We know he is one of our best guys stuff-wise," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. "But like I said earlier in camp I think because of needs we pushed him to be this guy in ’19 and in ’20 we didn’t pitch that much. I think the plan for him is that he is going to start Opening Day in Jacksonville, but he will go two or three innings. The goal for him is to work in between starts, or in between outings and he hasn’t been able to do that in years. It wasn’t a comfortable conversation because we know what he can do, but we believe as a group … The goal for him is to work with Abby (Paul Abbott) in between starts to be consistent. It wasn’t an easy conversation, but he opened up with us and we talked. Yeah, you’re a big leaguer, we know that. But to be the big leaguer we envision we need to find consistency and that’s what he is missing right now. We can’t go with the up and down. He dominates in Texas and he struggles for a few weeks. We don’t want that. When he’s ready, he’ll be ready and we know he will contribute. There are a few decisions based on that. There are a few decisions as far as who we’re facing this month. Will we need more righties. All of a sudden we have a lot of lefties on our staff and they are really, really good. But we’re still getting there. But, like I said, we have been going back and forth the last 10 days."
Cora added, "We want him to pitch and then we want him to work. The last one here, three innings and everyone was ecstatic. He did the job. But it’s not about that. He can even struggle for three innings and all of a sudden you will see him here. It’s about the work he will be putting in between outings, which is the most important thing for us."
The Red Sox manager relayed that the Red Sox do believe there is a mechanical flaw in Hernandez's delivery that has led to the inconsistency.
"Sometimes his arm angle is not where it should be," he said. "Now he’s a little bit lower, which is OK. We don’t mind that. But at the end, we want him to throw fastballs up and breaking balls down and be consistent with it. When he throws the fastball up, there is no damage. You guys can look at it. Fastballs up and breaking balls down. I hate to compare guys, but (Josh) Hader … It’s very simple. Fastballs up and breaking balls down, and he can do that. The characteristics of his fastballs, he gets swings and misses. He gets foul balls. There’s not a lot of contact. But when he gets a fastball down, we see the results, too. It’s just a matter of him being consistent, repeating his delivery over and over and over again. We do believe he’s going to contribute at one point this season. He’s going to be a big part of this."