The Phillies have claimed right-handed pitcher Carlos Hern¨˘ndez off waivers from the Kansas City Royals. To make room for Hern¨˘ndez on the 40-man roster, right-handed pitcher Tyler Phillips was designated for assignment.
Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski made the announcement.
Hern¨˘ndez, 28, appeared in eight outings (10.1 IP) with the Royals during spring training this year. Last season, he appeared in 27 games across four stints with Kansas City, posting a 3.30 ERA (11 ER, 30.0 IP). The right-hander has spent parts of nine seasons in the Royals organization after being signed as an international free agent on July 19, 2016.
A native of Guayana, Venezuela, Hern¨˘ndez has gone 7-19 with a 4.95 ERA (141 ER, 256.1 IP) across 150 career major league games (25 starts) with 226 strikeouts. Among 128 major leaguers who have thrown at least 2,000 four-seam fastballs between 2021-24, Hern¨˘ndezˇŻs 97.8 mph average fastball velocity ranks fourth behind Hunter Greene (98.2), Sandy Alcantara (98.0) and Ryne Stanek (97.9).
In seven appearances (1 start) this spring, Phillips, 27, went 1-3 with a 7.59 ERA (9 ER, 10.2 IP) and 14 strikeouts. The Lumberton, N.J., native made his major league debut on July 7, 2024, at the Atlanta Braves and appeared in eight games (7 starts) for the Phillies last season.
Phillips was originally selected by the Texas Rangers in the 16th round of the 2015 MLB Draft and was claimed off waivers by Philadelphia on July 24, 2021.