Fernando Abad

Fernando Antonio Abad
(Nandito)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 2", Weight 220 lb.

• Debut July 28, 2010

• Born December 17, 1985 in La Romana, La Romana D.R.

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Biographical information

Fernando Abad is a left-handed pitcher who made his major league debut with the Houston Astros in 2010.

Abad was signed by scouts Julio Linares and Adriano Rodriguez for the Houston Astros in 2002. He began his career in 2003 with the DSL Astros, going 6-2 with a 1.61 ERA, 87 strikeouts and only 7 walks in 78 1/3 innings, and was named a league All-Star. Despite that strong debut, he remained in the DSL for 2004 (4-1, 1.29), 2005 (2 earned runs in 3 innings) and 2006 (5-2 with a 1.32 ERA in 15 games; he struck out 64 batters in 61 1/3 innings). After four years in the DSL, Abad came stateside in 2007. He split the season between the Greeneville Astros (6-4, 4.14, 54 strikeouts in 50 innings over 17 games, four starts) and Tri-City ValleyCats (2 earned runs in 3 innings over two games), going a combined 6-4 with a 4.25 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 53 innings. In 2008, he pitched for the Lexington Legends, going 2-7 with three saves and a 3.30 ERA in 45 relief appearances, striking out 94 batters in 76 1/3 innings. He pitched 2 1/3 shutout innings that winter for the Azucareros del Este. Abad pitched for the Lancaster Jethawks (41 games) and Corpus Christi Hooks (three games, all starts) in 2009, going a combined 4-7 with a 4.00 ERA, striking out 92 batters in 96 2/3 innings of work. He had a 3-1, 3.42 record for the Toros del Este and was added to Houston's 40-man roster in November.

Fernando began 2010 with the Hooks (4-3, 2.50) then moved up to the majors to replace Chris Sampson. He only got into one game, replacing Brandon Lyon with a 8-1 lead on July 28th against the Chicago Cubs. Abad walked his first batter, Kosuke Fukudome, then retired Jeff Baker on a fly ball. Koyie Hill singled, Alfonso Soriano grounded into a force at home, then Ryan Theriot grounded out to end the game. Abad was demoted to the Round Rock Express to make room on the roster for Jeff Fulchino, who was coming off the DL. In all, he pitched 22 games for Houston, with an 0-1 record but a solid 2.84 ERA. 2011 was a different story, as his ERA rose to 7.32 in 29 games. Hit hard, he managed to pitch only 19 2/3 innings at the big league level with a 1-4 record, 28 hits and 18 runs allowed. He also spent time back in AAA with the Oklahoma City RedHawks, where he was 2-3, 4.80 in 29 games.

Abad started the 2012 season back with Oklahoma City, but made only 13 appearances before getting the call to Houston. Three of those appearances were starts, and he was 2-0, 3.90 with 2 saves while pitching 27 2/3 innings. In Houston, he was 0-6, 5.09 in 37 games for the last-place Astros, yielding 57 hits in 46 innings while walking 19 and striking out 38. After parts of three seasons in the bigs, his combined record was an ungainly 1-11, 5.10. He became a free agent after the season and signed with the Washington Nationals for 2013. Given his lack of success, he was sent to the Triple A Syracuse Chiefs to open the season, where he pitched extremely well. After 17 outings, he had a 1.06 ERA, prompting a call up on May 21st. Although he continued his losing streak in the bigs (0-3), he otherwise was pretty good as attested by his 3.35 ERA in 39 games, and 32/10 K/BB ratio in 37 2/3 innings. On November 25th, the Nats traded him to the Oakland Athletics for minor league outfielder John Wooten.

Fernando became an integral part of the Oakland bullpen and spent his first full season in the bigs in 2014, recording a career-best 69 appearances (57 1/3 innings) with a microscopic 1.57 ERA. He regressed in 2015, managing a similar workload (62 appearances and 47 2/3 innings) while surrendering 11 home runs and pitching to a 4.15 ERA. He was designated for assignment after the season and caught on with the Minnesota Twins on a minor league pact. He split the 2016 season between the Twins and the Boston Red Sox, making 57 appearances to a 3.66 ERA, then contributed a 3.30 ERA in 48 games with the Red Sox in 2017. An attempt to catch on with the New York Mets in 2018 went bust upon the announcement of his 80-game suspension after testing positive for the performance-enhancing drug Stanozolol, but he returned to the bigs in August 2019 out of the San Francisco Giants bullpen, with an ERA of 4.15 in 21 games. That December, he signed a minor league deal to try and make the Nationals (again) in spring training.

Further Reading

• Jessica Camerato: "Nats' top pick will fit right in with this hobby: Cavalli shares passion for cutting hair with fellow pitchers Abad, Suero", mlb.com, June 17, 2020. [1]
• Thomas Harding: "Licensed barber, reliever Abad cherishes first win in 2,226 days: Veteran part of shutdown bullpen that quieted potent Astros offense in Rockies' victory", mlb.com, July 19, 2023. [2]

Related Sites

• Fernando Abad on mlb.com