Kansas City Royals: New Season Prospect Watch, Arnaldo Hernandez

Arnaldo Hernandez pitched well for the Kansas City Royals in their Spring Training game against the Colorado Rockies. He stands as MLB Pipeline’s 27th ranked prospect in the Royals organization.

Arnaldo Hernandez pitched 1.2 innings against the Colorado Rockies Tuesday. The Kansas City Royal struck out three, gave up three hits, and tallied just one earned run. In a 12-5 blowout, that’s a pretty good outing.

MLB Pipeline listed Arnaldo Hernandez as the 27th best prospect in the organization to begin the 2019 season. He found himself at all different levels within the farm system during the 2018 season, including with Wilmington, Northwest Arkansas, and Omaha.

He was signed in September of 2012 out of Venezuela. The pitcher has flown under the radar for pretty much his whole career. During 2018, he totaled an overall ERA of 3.96 throughout the three levels he pitched in. His lowest numbers came with the Omaha Storm Chasers, where his ERA sat at 3.55. He appeared in ten games for the Chasers, and he tallied a record of 5-1.

In the other levels, his ERA sat at a low four. His overall WHIP hit 1.34 on the season, 1.10 in Triple A. As far as MLB Pipeline’s grading system is concerned, the 23 year old is a 40 overall caliber player. His fastball and changeup grade out as his best pitches at 55 grades apiece, followed by his curveball and control knotted at 50 to round out his tools.

He has been mainly thrown into the starting role during his time climbing through the Royals minor league system, but in his Arizona Fall League stint, he took on a relief role instead. Transitioning to being a reliever may allow him to break into the MLB soon.

He has hit up to 98 MPH on his fastball, but his range typically sits between 91-93. As noted above, his fastball and changeup are above average and his curveball is average.

According to a recent article written by Jesse Sanchez of mlb.com, Hernandez is a prospect to keep a very close eye on throughout 2019. The article contains this quote from Ned Yost:

"“When I talk to all our player development people, they keep telling me that he’s coming fast, so it will be interesting to watch his progress here. He’s handled everything really well to this point. He’s not overmatched. He’s doing the program just like you would want him to.”"

He still has some growing to do as a player, but MLB Pipeline has predicted that sometime in the 2019 season, Arnaldo Hernandez will get a chance to lace up his cleats as a Kansas City Royal.