Diamondbacks' Ronaldo Hernandez: Inks MiLB deal with Arizona
Rotowire
Arizona signed Hernandez to a minor-league contract Wednesday with an invitation to major-league spring training, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.com reports.
Hernandez is 26 years old and has yet to make his MLB debut, but he registered a solid .781 OPS with 17 home runs and 70 RBI over 99 games last season with the Triple-A affiliate of the Red Sox. He'll serve as organizational depth at catcher for the Diamondbacks.
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Red Sox's Ronaldo Hernandez: Reassigned to minor-league camp
Rotowire
The Red Sox reassigned Hernandez to minor-league camp Friday.
Hernandez spent all of last season in Triple-A Worcester, slashing .261/.297/.451 with 17 homers and 63 RBI through 437 plate appearances. The 25-year-old backstop struggled this spring, however, and will likely stay put in Triple-A for 2023.
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Red Sox's Ronaldo Hernandez: Outrighted to Triple-A
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Hernandez cleared waivers and was optioned to Triple-A Worcester on Friday, Chris Cotillo of The Springfield Republican reports.
After he was designated for assignment, Hernandez went through waivers unclaimed and will now head to Triple-A. The move opens another spot on the 40-man roster for Boston. In 105 games with Worcester last season, Hernandez produced a .261 average with 17 homers, 63 RBI and 50 runs over 410 at-bats and could be an option at backstop for the Red Sox in 2023.
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Red Sox's Ronaldo Hernandez: Heads back to minors
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Hernandez was optioned to Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports.
The 24-year-old was promoted Monday after the Red Sox shipped off Christian Vazquez, but the team acquired Reese McGuire from the White Sox on Tuesday. Hernandez didn't make his big-league debut during his day with the team and will return to Worcester, where he has a .279/.302/.462 slash line in 74 games this year.
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Red Sox's Ronaldo Hernandez: Sent back to Triple-A
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Hernandez was optioned to Triple-A Worcester on Wednesday, Chris Cotillo of The Springfield Republican reports.
The 24-year-old was promoted from Worcester on Tuesday, but Christian Vazquez (illness) ended up spending only one day on the COVID-19 injured list. Hernandez has yet to make his MLB debut, and he may not receive that opportunity this year.
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Red Sox's Ronaldo Hernandez: Call-up official
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The Red Sox recalled Hernandez from Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday, Steve Hewitt of the Boston Herald reports.
He'll serve as the backup catcher behind Connor Wong, who will receive his first start of the season Tuesday against the Blue Jays after top backstop Christian Vazquez (illness) joined Kevin Plawecki (illness) on the COVID-19-related injured list earlier in the day. As Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe notes, both Vazquez and Plawecki are vaccinated, so the Red Sox will hope that at least one of the two is able to clear the MLB's testing protocols in fairly quick fashion. Whenever one of Vazquez or Plawecki is back in action, Hernandez will likely be sent back to Worcester.
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Red Sox's Ronaldo Hernandez: Heading to Boston
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Hernandez will be promoted from Triple-A Worcester to Boston ahead of Tuesday's game against the Blue Jays, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reports.
The Red Sox called up catcher Connor Wong on Monday to replace Kevin Plawecki (illness), who was placed on the COVID-19 injury list, so the news that Hernandez is heading to Boston set off speculation about more positive test results. The Red Sox are expected to provide an update at some point Tuesday. Hernandez, 24, is batting .143 (4-for-28) over seven games for the WooSox. He crushed 16 home runs over 99 games in 2021 between Double-A Portland and Worcester.
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Red Sox's Ronaldo Hernandez: Dealt to Boston
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The Red Sox acquired Hernandez and infielder Nick Sogard from the Rays on Wednesday in exchange for pitchers Jeffrey Springs and Chris Mazza, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Though he has yet to play above the High-A level, Hernandez, 23, was included in the Rays' 60-man roster pool in 2020 and was believed to factor into the Rays' long-term catching plans. The Rays' decision to move on from him while getting back two fringe MLB pitchers seemingly implies otherwise, but Hernandez should still have a decent outlook in Boston. Since Christian Vazquez is under club control through at least 2022 and should remain the Red Sox's No. 1 catcher, look for Hernandez to spend most of the upcoming campaign at Double-A Portland or Triple-A Worcester, where he'll be able to play on a regular basis. Through his first three seasons in the professional ranks, Hernandez has slashed .287/.333/.459 with 35 home runs and a 19-for-25 success rate on stolen-base attempts.
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Rays' Ronaldo Hernandez: In postseason player pool
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Hernandez was named to the Rays' 40-man postseason player pool Monday, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports.
Hernandez is considered the Rays' top catching prospect and has gotten valuable experience at both the team's alternate training site in Port Charlotte and various taxi squad stints this season. The inclusion on the 40-man playoff pool still leaves Hernandez with almost no chance of seeing any game action outside of a rash of injuries ahead of him, but it's another opportunity for the backstop of the future to spend time around the big-league club.
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Rays' Ronaldo Hernandez: Working at alternate training site
Rotowire
Although Hernandez did not make it onto the Opening Day roster, he impressed during the latter stages of summer camp and could be an option at the big-league level later in the season, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports.
The 22-year-old backstop has never played above the High-A level, but he's demonstrated some impressive pop over his first three minor-league stops with 101 extra-base hits (61 doubles, five triples, 35 home runs) across 266 games. He also showed plenty against big-league arms as camp wound down, with Toribio reporting Hernandez slugged a double and single off Ryan Yarbrough in Monday's intrasquad scrimmage and then followed it up with a towering homer off Trevor Richards and RBI double against Shane McClanahan the following day. The Rays are currently set behind the dish with Mike Zunino, Michael Perez and Kevan Smith, but if Hernandez continues to show well at the team's alternate training site in Port Charlotte, it appears he may have an outside chance at making the leap all the way up to the major-league squad.
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Rays' Ronaldo Hernandez: Should be in player pool
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Hernandez is expected to be part of the Rays' 60-man player pool that will report to the team's summer camp, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports.
Hernandez hit just .188 (3-for-16) in Grapefruit League play before spring training was suspended, but he'll apparently have a chance to continue gaining experience against some big-league talent throughout the 2020 season as part of a taxi squad. The promising backstop, who's already on the 40-man roster, will likely report to Port Charlotte, one of the Rays' two summer camp sites. Although Hernandez has yet to play above the High-A level, he's considered the likely future at catcher in the organization.
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Rays' Ronaldo Hernandez: Dispatched to minors camp
Rotowire
The Rays optioned Hernandez to Triple-A Durham on Monday.
Considering Hernandez hasn't played above the High-A level, he was never a likely candidate to break camp with the big club. He'll likely see ample work in intrasquad games over the next week before minor-league exhibitions begin March 18.
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Rays' Ronaldo Hernandez: Protected from Rule 5 draft
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Hernandez was added to the Rays' 40-man roster Wednesday.
This protects him from the Rule 5 draft. Hernandez is at least a full year away from the majors and maybe a couple years away, given the fact he has a lot of work to do as a defensive catcher.
