Darwinzon Hernandez to come up for start on Tuesday

The Red Sox are reeling right now having lost four of their last five games following a sweep in Kansas City. That’s the way things have been all year for this team after that season-opening disaster out west as it’s continuously been one step forward one step back. They can’t seem to get any sustained momentum moving forward, and now they’ll be looking for a spark coming up from the minors. Nathan Eovaldi is still not back in the rotation, and he’s recently suffered another setback. Meanwhile, Ryan Weber didn’t work out in that spot while both Brian Johnson and Hector Velázquez are out with injuries of their own. The former could be back soon, but in the meantime they are turning to a top prospect to take this turn in the rotation in the big leagues. Darwinzon Hernandez has been confirmed as the team’s starter for Tuesday’s game against the Rangers.

This is exciting for the obvious reasons: Hernandez is perhaps the best pitching prospect in the system. Heading into the year there was plenty of anticipation that he would indeed come up and help the major-league club during this regular season, though the assumption was that it’d be as a reliever. Instead, the team has kept him as a starter to this point and he will continue to pitch in that role for now. The lefty has still shown the command and control issues that many figured would push him to the bullpen at some point. The assumption is that transition will still happen eventually, and probably even later this year. However, right now the team needs a spark and they need a starter. Hernandez will provide the latter, and hopefully he can provide the former as well.

A corresponding move to make room for Hernandez has not yet been announced.