Roberto Hernández (baseball)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
|---|---|
| Texas Rangers — No. | |
| Relief pitcher | |
| Born: November 11, 1964 | |
| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
| September 2, 1991 for the Chicago White Sox | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through 2006) |
|
| Wins-Losses | 64-68 |
| Earned Run Average | 3.32 |
| Innings pitched | 1025 |
| Strikeouts | 914 |
| Saves | 326 |
| Teams | |
Roberto Manuel Hernández Rodríguez (born November 11, 1964 in the Santurce district of San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a right-handed Major League Baseball relief pitcher.
Hernández grew up in New York City and attended Chelsea Vocational School where he played baseball for three years. He also attended The New Hampton School in New Hampshire, before attending the University of Connecticut & the University of South Carolina at Aiken, which named their refurbished baseball field after him in 1993.
Hernández was selected by the California Angels as the 16th pick in the first round of the 1986 amateur draft. He was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1989. In 1991, while pitching for the Vancouver Canadians of the Pacific Coast League, Hernández experienced numbness in his pitching hand, later determined to be caused by blood clots. He was rushed into emergency surgery to have veins transplanted from his inner thigh to his forearm. The surgery was successful and he went on to make his major league debut as a starting pitcher against the Kansas City Royals on September 2 of that year.
Hernández has had a long and largely successful career as a relief pitcher in the major leagues. In 1993 he was instrumental in the White Sox' drive for the American League West Division pennant, going 2-1 with 21 saves in the second half of the season. He made four appearances in the American League Championship Series that year and pitched four scoreless innings.
In 1997, Hernández was traded to the San Francisco Giants as part of a nine-player deal and appeared in all three games of the National League Division Series against the Florida Marlins. After the season, he signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In 1999, he earned his career-high of 43 saves which is also a Devil Rays team record. His 43 saves were for a team that only won 69 games overall.
His performance level declined after being traded to the Kansas City Royals prior to the 2001 season. Since then, he has signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves in 2003, the Philadelphia Phillies in 2004 and the New York Mets in 2005. After 2002, he moved from being a closer to being a setup man, in which role he has generally flourished. He signed a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates for the 2006 season. On July 31, 2006, Hernández was reacquired by the New York Mets along with pitcher Oliver Perez for outfielder Xavier Nady. He played in Puerto Rico from 1987 to 1996 with the Mayaguez Indians.
On December 2, 2006, Hernández signed a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Cleveland Indians for the 2007 season with a $3.7 million club option for 2008.[1] Coming out of spring training, he and Rafael Betancourt were the Indians' primary right-handed eighth-inning relievers.[2] But Hernandez pitched poorly over the first three months of the season (6.23 ERA in 28 games) and eventually lost the confidence of manager Eric Wedge. He was designated for assignment June 20[3] and waived for the purposes of giving him his unconditional release June 28.[4]
Hernández was signed to a minor league contract by the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 7, 2007 [5] and, after pitching in one game for the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s, was recalled to the Dodgers on July 18.
On August 16, 2007, Hernández appeared in his 1000th game against the Houston Astros. He became the 11th pitcher in major league baseball history to appear in 1000 career games.
Hernández is married with four children[6] and resides in Gulfport, Florida.
[edit] References
- ^ Castrovince, Anthony (December 2, 2006). Hernandez designated for assignment. MLB.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-04.
- ^ Castrovince, Anthony (April 2, 2007). Notes: Contract talks take back seat. MLB.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-04.
- ^ Castrovince, Anthony (June 20, 2007). Hernandez designated for assignment. MLB.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-04.
- ^ Castrovince, Anthony (June 28, 2007). Notes: Michaels continues hot hitting. MLB.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-04.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Cleveland Indians: Media Guide 2007 (PDF), Major League Baseball, pgs. 153-158. Retrieved on 2007-07-04.
[edit] See also
- List of players from Puerto Rico in MLB
- List of Major League Baseball all-time saves leaders
- Career Leaders in Games Finished
- Major League Baseball titles leaders
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
- MLB.com player info page
