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Hjerpe may not see much action against opposing teams' starting lineups during Grapefruit League play, Brenden Schaeffer of First Alert 4 reports.
He struck out four and walked two over two scoreless innings in his first appearance of the spring, but Hjerpe is not high in the pecking order of young pitchers fighting for a big-league job or an early season promotion to the majors. The 6-foot-3 southpaw put up very impressive numbers in college thanks to a unique arm angle that allows all his pitches to play up. Hjerpe got off to a slow start in his pro debut, but he had a 1.54 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 26 strikeouts in 23.1 innings over his final four starts before needing a cleanup procedure on his elbow. He made it back for the Arizona Fall League and worked as a reliever there, striking out 15 while walking six in 8.1 innings over seven appearances. Including the AFL, Hjerpe was able to log just 49.1 innings in 2023 after throwing 103.1 frames for Oregon State in 2022. Staying healthy and handling a starter's workload will be paramount this year, and if he does that, he could be an option in the big-league rotation in late 2024 or in 2025.
