Marlins activate RHP Elieser Hernandez, designate RHP David Hess for assignment

Elieser Hernandez has been reinstated off the 60-day IL and is starting Sunday’s game for the Marlins, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. In a corresponding move, David Hess was designated for assignment, also per McPherson.

Hernandez is one of several interesting young hurlers in the Miami rotation, but he has only been able to make a couple of starts this year because of biceps inflammation and a quad strain. Those setbacks came after the righty seemed on the verge of a breakout in 2020. In 25 2/3 innings over six starts last year, he had an ERA of 3.16, strikeout rate of 32.1% and walk rate of 4.7%. He’ll now look to get back on track over the final weeks of the season before heading to arbitration for the first time this winter.

As for Hess, he was acquired from the Rays on July 3 and logged 18 innings in 14 games with the Marlins, primarily out of the bullpen. 

Unfortunately, the results haven’t been there for him. He has an unsightly ERA of 8.00, with a strikeout rate of 18.4% and walk rate of 11.5%, both of which are worse than league average. 

He had much better numbers in Triple-A before the trade, throwing 32 innings with an ERA of 2.81. The strikeout and walk rates were also excellent, at 28.9% and 3.9%, respectively. 

Another club could claim him and give him a shot at transferring that kind of performance to the big leagues. If he goes unclaimed, he will be able to refuse an outright assignment since he has previously been outrighted in the past.