Rangers Reliever Makes First Appearance Since 2020

Texas Rangers pitcher Jonathan Hernández made his first appearance in the Majors in more than a year on Saturday, tossing a scoreless seventh inning in a 3-2 loss to Seattle.

Hernández started the seventh by getting the Mariners’ Ty France to ground out to third. After giving up a Jesse Winker single, Carlos Santana line out to right field and Eugenio Suarez struck out to end the frame. Hernandez threw 15 pitches, eight of which were strikes.

“It was good to see him out there competing,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. “I missed him pitching. To see the competitor in him and to see where his stuff was. He got a zero on the board and helped give us a chance to win.”

The Rangers activated Hernández from the 60-day injured list on Saturday. Hernandez had Tommy John surgery on his right elbow on April 12 of last year. He began a rehab assignment in the Rangers’ minor league system on June 3 and went 0-2 with a 3.60 ERA with 13 walks and 16 strikeouts in 16 relief appearances.

His numbers were better in his last nine rehab outings, as he had a 1.08 ERA, giving up just one earned run in 8 1/3 innings with four walks and 11 strikeouts. He last pitched on Wednesday against Midland, where he gave up no runs and no hits in 1 2/3 innings.

Hernández was one of the promising young arms in the organization before the injury. In 2020, he was named the Rangers Rookie of the Year by the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. He went 5-1 with a 2.90 ERA in 27 games.

In his Major League career, which started in 2019, he went 7-3 with a 3.40 ERA in 36 games. He averaged 9.4 strikeouts per nine innings.

He originally joined the Rangers’ organization as a non-drafted free agent in 2013.

Hernández is the second Rangers reliever to return to the staff after missing more than a season due to injury. Jose Leclerc returned last month after missing most of the 2020 and 2021 seasons with Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. He returned to the staff on June 18 in Detroit, and he has a 5.68 ERA in nine games.

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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