Royals to swap out Matt Harvey for Carlos Hernandez in starting rotation
Right-hander Carlos Hernandez will join the Kansas City Royals’ starting pitching rotation and give the club a triumvirate of young rookie hurlers pitching back-to-back-to-back in front of staff ace Brad Keller this week.
A 6-foot-4, 250-pound native of Venezuela, Hernandez will start Saturday against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Kauffman Stadium and take over the spot Matt Harvey had held in the club’s six-man starting rotation.
Harvey remains on the active roster and will move to the bullpen after having made five appearances (four starts).
The Royals will start rookie Brady Singer, 24, on Thursday, followed by rookie left-hander Kris Bubic, 23, Friday.
Similarly to Bubic, who had not pitched above High-A Wilmington in the minors before making his MLB debut, Hernandez, 23, did not pitch above Low-A Lexington until this season.
Hernandez has made two multi-inning relief appearances since being called up to the majors on Aug. 30.
Both of his outings came in relief of Harvey, the most recent on Sunday in a series finale against the Chicago White Sox in Kansas City. Hernandez gave up one run on three hits and one walk in 2 2/3 innings. He came out of the game after being hit in the stomach by a line drive.
In 6 1/3 innings (two games) this season, Hernandez has allowed one run on five hits and two walks. He has struck out four. In that small sample, thus far, he has posted a 1.42 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP while featuring a four-pitch mix with a sinker, curveball, four-seam fastball and changeup.
Baseball American rated Hernandez the 17th-best prospect in the Royals’ farm system in its latest rankings. Last season, Hernandez went 3-5 with a 5.31 ERA in 15 starts (57 2/3 innings) with 68 strikeouts and 24 walks, including starts in the Arizona League (rookie level) and Appalachian League (advanced rookie level). He also posted a 1.44 WHIP and .263 opponent’s batting average.
Harvey, 31, joined the organization this summer on a minor-league contract after not pitching in the majors for more than a year. He had encouraging early outings but had struggled to get past the second inning in his starts.
Harvey (0-3) has a 11.70 ERA in five games. In 10 innings, he has allowed 13 earned runs on 22 hits and five walks. He has struck out eight and posted a 2.70 WHIP.
In one relief appearance, Harvey pitched 2/3 scoreless innings against the White Sox on Sept. 3.
The Royals (16-28) clinched at least a split of their four-game road series with the Cleveland Indians with a win on Wednesday.
They can win their third straight and claim their first series since they swept the Minnesota Twins on Aug. 7-9 with a win at Progressive Field Thursday evening.
