Former Red Sox hard-throwing pitching prospect makes the Cardinals Opening Day roster
Former Red Sox pitching prospect Ryan Fernandez has officially made the Cardinals Opening Day roster.
St. Louis selected Fernandez in last December’s Rule 5 draft after the Red Sox left the righty unprotected. Per the rules around the Rule 5 draft, the Cardinals must keep Fernandez on their active roster for the entire season, unless he’s hurt and lands on the injured list, or he will be returned to Boston for $50,000.
The 25-year-old tops out at 99 mph with his fastball while offering four other pitches within his arsenal. Fernandez offers a cutter, slider, curveball, and changeup. His fastball and cutter complement each other, missing bats along the way.
Fernandez had a strong season pitching in Low-A and Double-A before being promoted to the WooSox. In 26 games with Triple-A Worcester, he owned a 3-3 record with a 6.16 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, and a 10.27 K/9. In 20 1/3 innings, he surrendered 38 hits, 23 runs, 21 earned, and stuck out 26 batters.
This spring, Fernandez, made nine relief appearances, allowing four runs, nine hits, two homers, and one walk while striking out six over 9 2/3 frames.
The Florida native projects as a middle reliever in the major leagues, potentially a late inning hurler. While with the WooSox, he spoke with Beyond the Monster’s Andrew Parker and felt his transition to Triple-A was seamless, wanting to become a closer.
“Just being able to shut the door on the other team.” Fernandez said. “To make sure they have no more confidence when I am on that mound. As soon as I come on the mound, I want them to know the game is over. I love having that feeling when I am in the game. I love having all of the adrenaline, and it gives me that mood. When you’re the closer it's just a different animal.”
Last season, FanGraphs rated the right-hander as the 27th-best prospect in the system. They rated his fastball 50, slider a 70, with a 55 command and 60 potential. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote about Fernandez:
Fernandez is a single-inning relief prospect with some of the best stuff of anyone available in this year’s Rule 5 draft. His four-seamer sits at 94–96 mph and touches 97. To call his cutter a secondary would be misleading, as it surpassed his fastball usage at Triple-A, accounting for 48% of the pitches he threw at that level and inducing a 47% chase rate. His use of his gyroscopic slider dipped in 2023, but when he did throw it, it earned him a combined 63% whiffs (73% at Triple-A), and that kind of bat-missing ability is, ironically, nothing to shake a stick at. His strike-throwing ability makes him very likely to stick on St. Louis’ roster and contribute in a middle-inning capacity. This was the first relief-only pitcher to come off the board in the draft, and it is the one we feel most confident will have a good 2024.
Besides his explosive fastball, Fernandez is known for his distinguished look on the mound and his mustache.
“It started last year in spring training as a joke, and it kind of turned into my thing.” Fernandez spoke of his facial hair. “I was going to shave it off, but I kind of started to like it. People started to make fun of it, and it became my thing, so now I am just rolling with it.”
