The Dodgers announced that right-hander Wyatt Mills has been recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Fellow righty Jonathan Hernández has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.
Hernández, 29, was signed to a major league deal just over six weeks ago. Since then, he has made 12 appearances for the Dodgers, working a low-leverage role. He has tossed 17 2/3 innings, allowing 8.15 earned runs per nine. An unlucky 59.1% strand rate didn’t help him out but he also had subpar strikeout and walk rates of 18.1% and 14.5%, respectively.
That lackluster performance has nudged him off the roster. He is out of options and had to be bumped off the 40-man entirely. He’ll be in DFA limbo for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Dodgers could take as long as five days to explore trade interest, though they could also put him on the wire sooner than that if they so choose.
Though this year’s numbers aren’t great, it’s possible he garners interest based on past performance and his raw stuff. He is averaging about 97 miles per hour with both his four-seamer and sinker, while also throwing a slider and a changeup.
He had a few decent seasons with the Rangers, once upon a time. Arguably, his best performance was in the shortened 2020 campaign, when he threw 31 innings with a 2.90 ERA, 24.8% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate and 45.7% ground ball rate. Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2021. He was back on the mound in 2022 and posted a 2.97 ERA, though with a 20.6% strikeout rate and 13% walk rate. He then struggled in subsequent seasons, posting a 5.40 ERA in both 2023 and 2024. He spent most of 2025 on the injured list in the minors.
It’s obviously been a rough few years for Hernández but the velocity is still there. With the injuries around the league, perhaps some club will take a flier on him. If he clears waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency, both because he has a previous career outright and at least three years of service time.
Photo courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images
