Former Red Sox pitcher Ryan Fernandez 'had his good stuff' in MLB debut for Cardinals
The Red Sox have certainly had their fair share of success plucking talent out of the MLB Rule 5 Draft in recent years.
Garrett Whitlock is always a name that comes to the minds of Red Sox fans, but the same can be said about Justin Slaten in his short time in Boston so far. One could argue about a guy like Joe Jacques, who came over in the Minor League Rule 5 Draft was a good find by the Red Sox too.
In the latest Rule 5 Draft, the Red Sox lost pitchers Shane Drohan and Ryan Fernandez to the White Sox and Cardinals respectively. Both guys saw some time in Worcester last season and were left unprotected for the draft. While Drohan has started the year on the IL due to nerve decompression surgery in his left shoulder on February 22nd, Fernandez came out of Spring with successful numbers into his MLB debut against the Padres.
“I think I kind of blacked out.” Fernandez told Beyond the Monster after his debut. “Last year was a different year for my pitches. I think I am back to my usual stuff now. When I have my good stuff, I am using the slider most of the time. It was really working in the debut.”
New Red Sox Japanese pitcher Naoyuki Uwasawa with the WooSox; expected to pitch next week
Fernandez struck out the side while showing off some impressible swing and miss stuff with his slider. He topped out at 96.6 MPH and threw his wipeout slider 50% of the time in route to his three strikeouts.
His former manager in Worcester was not surprised in the slightest.
“We saw enough spurts of Fernandez last year where there were outings that we electric.” WooSox manager Chad Tracy said of Fernandez. “There were also outings that weren’t so good as well when his fastball was getting hit. It didn’t surprise me because we saw 97 and at times 99 MPH out there and his slider would show up.”
While the right-hander struggled at time in Worcester, the stuff has always been there. It just all comes down to being as consistent as possible.
“I think the big thing for him is consistency.” Tracy added. “He made the team, so he is going to be given every opportunity to stay up there. Being able to consistently put forth that kind of appearance will be huge for him. We saw a lot of things that were interesting but at the end of the day, that’s why we have these rules. We only have so many openings and we definitely thought it was a possibility we could lose him.”
The Red Sox ultimately ended up adding Wikelman Gonzalez and Luis Perales to the 40-man roster to protect them from the draft. The Red Sox knew the odds were high on losing talent and they felt comfortable enough letting Fernandez go with how inconsistent he was at times last season.
“The moments that he had the electrifying eye opening outings here last year, that kind of performance was there.” Tracy said. “It wasn’t even the fastball because everyone can be wowed by 99 MPH, but the outings that the good slider showed up, we were amazed. When that is there plus the 99, you get a lot of strikeouts and weak groundouts. I have seen the slider show up at times when he was here and that was the wow factor. I am sure in his mind knowing how the first outing went, he is focusing on it that he needs to pitch to show up.”
