Atlanta Braves Opening Day countdown: 61, veteran arm
Once a villain to Atlanta Braves fans, today’s focus turned into one of the group of veteran arms the Braves utilize each year.
Every season it seems that the Atlanta Braves bring in at least one veteran arm that lengthens out the pitching staff by being a rubber arm that can eat up innings. That veteran often provides excellent mentorship to the pitching staff as well. Last season, that guy was Anibal Sanchez. In 2012, that guy was Livan Hernandez to open the season.
Background
Coming out of Cuba, Hernandez took the league by storm in 1997, making 17 starts for the Marlins, with a 3.18 ERA over 96 1/3 innings. However, he took things to another level when he got to the postseason, going 4-0 over that postseason over 5 appearances and 3 starts, pitching 28 1/3 innings. He won both the NLCS MVP and World Series MVP as the Marlins won the first World Series in their franchise’s short history.
Of course, most Atlanta Braves fans remember that series for a generous strike zone afforded Livan by the late Eric Gregg, as seen in this one, which was the final pitch of Game 5:
Livan had a 19-year major league career, much of it spent with teams facing the Atlanta Braves. Over his career, he tossed 224 2/3 innings against the Braves, with a 4.65 ERA over 37 games and 36 games started.
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With the Braves
The Atlanta Braves signed Hernandez the day after he was released by the Houston Astros in 2012. The 37-year-old was brought on board to give protection to a young Braves rotation that would see 10 pitchers make starts for the team, half of whom were 25 or under.
Hernandez really did what he was brought in to do, offering multiple innings out of the bullpen, appearing in 18 games, throwing 31 innings, with a 4.94 ERA and an 8/19 BB/K ratio. However, as young arms like Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy took hold midseason in the rotation and Cristhian Martinez established himself in the role of multiple-inning reliever, there really wasn’t a spot for Livan.
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While with the Atlanta Braves, Livan provided plenty of great antics and quotes during his career. His last appearance with the Braves in 2012 was on June 10th after not pitching since May 27th. He allowed 5 runs on 2 home runs over 1 2/3 innings in a blowout loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. He received boos from the hometown Atlanta fans and responded with a great quote:
I understand, the fans they’ve got to boo. I’m supposed to get booed, because I didn’t do a great job today.