The Atlanta Braves have once again activated the DFA Cycle and the latest passenger is none other than Elieser Hernández. Following another one-appearance stint with Atlanta, Hernández has been designated for assignment and reliever James Karinchak will be taking his place on the roster for the time being.
Hernández has actually come up pretty big for the Braves over the past couple of weekends.
He tossed three crucial scoreless innings against the Orioles in a situation where Atlanta needed every last one of those outs in order to pull off a dramatic victory. This time, he pitched another three innings but it was clear that he was being used to give the bullpen regulars a spell after they were put into heavy use during the series-opening win over Washington. Either way, the three innings were productive (outside of a homer given up to Andrés Chaparro) and Hernández did his job while he was here.
James Karinchak will be returning to the big league fold for the first time since July 9, which is when he pitched a scoreless inning against the Pirates. Karinchak has pitched 9.2 innings so far and has a 1.86 ERA and a 4.34 FIP so far. I’d imagine that he’ll be in line to get some low-leverage innings on a short-term basis. Pour another one out for Elieser Hernández, though, who appears to be the strongest soldier given the fate of the DFA Cycle so far.
