Originally from Cuba, Fern\u00e1ndez, 23, was an international signing by the Rockies during the 2019-2020 cycle, inking a $295,000 deal. He rose quickly through the minor league system as he displayed immense power early on with 20-plus homer seasons in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n
However, things began to taper off for Fern\u00e1ndez once he reached Triple-A Albuquerque. In parts of two seasons \u2014 a total of 97 games \u2014 he slashed .259\/.320\/.437 through 409 plate appearances. 2025 was a better start for him as he hit .284\/.347\/.502 with 13 home runs, earning a promotion to the big leagues at the end of June.<\/p>\n
He struggled at the major league level, however, hitting just .225\/.265\/.348 with a 30% strikeout rate in 147 trips to the plate. His power was a no-show as he hit just four home runs and failed to lift the ball with any authority. A lack of plate discipline resulted in chases and bad contact, highlighted by his 49.5% groundball rate. Despite the power potential and a plus-plus arm in the outfield, Fern\u00e1ndez struggled to make an impact on either side of the baseball.<\/p>\n
The Rockies will have five days to trade Fern\u00e1ndez before he has to be placed on outright waivers. Given his history, age, tools, and pedigree, there is a good chance a team gives him a look or swings a small trade. He has one minor league option remaining, giving any team some flexibility. Otherwise, the Rockies could send him to Triple-A Albuquerque to give him more time to develop and earn a spot back.<\/p>\n
The move opens up another 40-man roster spot for the club, giving them 38 total players on the 40-man roster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Originally from Cuba, Fern\u00e1ndez, 23, was an international signing by the Rockies during the 2019-2020 cycle, inking a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2405],"tags":[5,167,52,38706,9430,4316,4,168],"class_list":{"0":"post-544684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-rockies","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-colorado","10":"tag-colorado-rockies","11":"tag-colorado-rockies-news","12":"tag-colorado-rockies-roster","13":"tag-coloradorockies","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-rockies"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115980601351955123","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}