A second opinion confirmed the initial diagnosis on David Hernandez’s elbow injury, so the Diamondbacks reliever will undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery.
Hernandez got the bad news today from Dr. James Andrews, who’ll do the honors tomorrow.
Hernandez struggled last season with a 4.42 ERA and had a particularly tough time suppressing homers, but his 66/24 K/BB ratio in 62 innings was very good and he posted a combined 2.94 ERA with huge strikeout totals between 2011 and 2012.
Arizona has the bullpen depth to withstand losing Hernandez, but he’s definitely a big loss for the late innings in front of closer Addison Reed. And based on the timing of the surgery he could miss part of 2015 as well.