Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Felix Hernandez announced via his agent on Saturday that he would not be taking part in the 2020 MLB season due to health and safety concerns about the coronavirus.
Hernandez, a long-time star with the Seattle Mariners who joined the Braves on a one-year deal during the offseason, became one of the biggest names in the game to reveal that he would not play this year with his Saturday announcement.
The Venezuela native was looking to rejuvenate his career in Atlanta and win a spot in its starting rotation after a rough past few years with the Mariners. The six-time All-Star and 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner has struggled mightily ever since 2018, failing to post an ERA under 5.55 in each of the past two seasons.
While Hernandez originally sought to find the form that made him one of the sport’s top pitchers for most of the 2010s, it seems as if the risks associated with playing the sport during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic simply made him decide not to take a risk.
Hernandez was set to earn only just over $300,000 if he made the Braves roster for the season, a possible secondary motivation for his decision to play it safe and stay at home.
“The King” will instead look to rejuvenate his once-stellar career in 2021 with some team in the league.
