Pinpoint location or velocity? How Elieser keeps hitters off stride
Marlins right-hander Elieser Hernandez doesn’t overpower you with high velocity. Instead, he gets results with pinpoint control
By Joe Frisaro @ManOn2nd
JUPITER, Fla. — Throw strikes and compete.
That pretty much sums up Marlins right-hander Elieser Hernandez.
There’s really nothing fancy about how the 25-year-old goes about his business. Hernandez is an example of a player who gets the most out of his abilities. Without a dominant pitch arsenal, he effectively dots the strike zone, mixing in a fastball, slider and changeup. He impresses with a fastball that sits in the 90-92 mph range, a slider and changeup.
On Saturday night, Hernandez threw four shutout innings, allowing two hits with six strikeouts and no walks against the Cardinals at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
Efficiency is why he has been successful.
Hernandez threw 57 pitches, with 39 strikeouts before calling it a night. The right-hander is tracking towards being a part of the rotation.
Basically, he’s already won over the coaching staff and the organization, who have his backing to be part of the Opening Day five.
Whether he is the No. 3 starter or not remains to be announced.
Sixto Sanchez, Trevor Rogers, Daniel Castano, Nick Neidert, Braxton Garrett and non-roster invitee Gio Gonzalez also are in the mix for the final two rotation spots.
A year ago, Hernandez rose to the occasion and flat out won a rotation spot. He made six starts and had a 3.16 ERA in 25 2/3 innings. Even without an overpowering fastball, Hernandez struck out 34 and walked just five before getting injured.
Now healthy, Hernandez finds a way to befuddle opposing hitters. In the first inning, he allowed a groundball single to Paul Goldschmidt, but then fanned Nolan Arenado to end the inning.
Per Statcast, Hernandez had 11 swinging strikes on Saturday, and had his four-seam fastball average at 91.1 mph. His maximum velocity was 92.6 mph.
Hernandez makes his case that you can log strikeouts without an blazing fastball, as long as you mix speeds and repeatedly hit your spots.
Sixto Monday: Grapefruit League game action gets underway for Sixto Sanchez on Monday at the Astros at West Palm Beach. Miami’s star pitching prospect is scheduled to pitch two innings in his first outing. Manager Don Mattingly on Saturday noted the 22-year-old right-hander has enough time to be ready for Opening Day.
Sanchez is a little behind the rest of the starters because he had a visa issue arriving in South Florida, and then dealt with a false-positive COVID-19 test.
The hard-throwing right-hander is ranked 15th on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 list. In seven big league starts in 2020, Sanchez was 3-2 with a 3.46 ERA in 39 innings.
The Marlins do have some off-days scheduled for early in the season, and he could line up as either the fourth or fifth starter.
Miami plans on monitoring Sanchez’s innings in hopes of keeping him available for later in the year, if the team is in playoff contention.
Sanchez is a clear spotlight prospect for Miami, and one of the keys to a promising rotation.
One thought on “Pinpoint location or velocity? How Elieser keeps hitters off stride”
I prefer that Sixto is not rushed. How fast can he really progress from two innings on Monday to get ready for even the fifth start of the rotation on 4/6/21?
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