Miami Marlins career retrospective: Livan Hernandez

1997 was a great year for the then Florida Marlins. The now Miami Marlins won the World Series in remarkable fashion. A 7 game win over the Cleveland Indians, after beating the NL East winning Atlanta Braves in six. There were some star hitters and of course young star starting pitcher Livan Hernandez. Let's take a look back at his career..

Livan Hernandez helped the then Florida Marlins win the World Series.

Livan Hernandez debuted in 1996 with a forgettable 3 inning "cup of coffee". His "real" debut took place in 1997, when he produced a 3.18 ERA/3.57 FIP, with 6.7 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 17 games and 96.1 innings pitched. He certainly looked the part of a top of the rotation arm in the near future. He was especially good in the playoffs, producing the same 3.18 ERA in 5 games and 28.1 innings pitched. He was credited with 4 wins.

Perhaps even more spectacularly, Livan Hernandez won BOTH the National League Championship Series MVP award and the 1997 World Series MVP awards! He looked to be a new star and the hype was seemingly off of the charts. Unfortunately that ended up being the peak of his career at just 22 years old.

The following season, Livan produced a 4.72 ERA/5.22 FIP, with 6.2 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9, in 33 games and 234.1 innings pitched. It was a terrible hype-killing follow-up to his historic 1997 season. 1999 didn't see much of an improvement for Livan, as he produced a 4.76 ERA/4.59 FIP, with 6.4 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9, in 20 games and 136.0 innings pitched.

On July 25, 1999, the then Florida Marlins traded Livan Hernandez to the San Francisco Giants for Minor League pitchers Nate Bump and Jason Grilli. Bump and Grilli combined to be worth a dreadful -0.6 WAR. Livan was worth 4.5 WAR. He played for the San Francisco Giants, Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals, Minnesota Twins, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets. He finished his career with a 4.44 ERA/4.40 FIP, with 5.6 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9, in 519 games and 3189.0 innings pitched.

Livan Hernandez was technically a one-hit wonder. He had an amazing 1997 season, but then was more of a mid-rotation inning-eater for the rest of his career. I's a shame that his trade return wasn't better.