The Mariners placed ace Felix Hernandez on the 15-day disabled list with a right calf strain Wednesday and recalled left-hander James Paxton from Triple-A Tacoma. This is only the third time in his 12-year career that he’s been placed on the disabled list, and the move is retroactive to May 28, which means he can return as soon as June 12.
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Paxton will replace Hernandez in the rotation and start Wednesday night’s game against the San Diego Padres in Petco Park.
It is only the third time that the 30-year-old Hernandez has landed on the DL in his 12-year career, with his last visit coming during the 2008 season because of a sprained left ankle. He’ll miss two starts if that timeframe holds. He stayed behind in Seattle while the team traveled to San Diego Monday to be examined by Dr. Ed Khalfayan.
A quick glance at Felix Hernandez’s stats this season make things seem fine: a 4-4 record, 2.86 ERA. In his last start, he got roughed up for six runs over six innings in a loss to the Twins.
So while in the short term a Hernandez injury is a bad thing for the Mariners, there’s hope that if this is a minor injury and ends up being the source of Felix’s struggles, it could end up being a positive development in the long term. While that’s a fairly modest innings total to this point in the season, it’s worth pointing out that Paxton tossed just 103 innings previous year between the minors, Majors and Arizona Fall League, and he worked just 87 combined innings in 2014.
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In 47.2 innings with Triple-A Tacoma this season, he has a 3.97 ERA and 1.15 WHIP.
