The Dodgers recalled right-hander Wyatt Mills from Triple-A Oklahoma City on June 30, 2026 and sent Jonathan Hernández into DFA limbo as the corresponding move. Mills is back on the active roster now; Hernández is off it, at least for the moment, because a player who is out of options must be removed from the 40-man roster when a club makes room.
That is why the transaction is drawing attention today. The Dodgers did not just shuffle a bullpen arm; they chose Mills over a pitcher who had been in the majors only since signing a deal just over six weeks earlier. For readers searching Wyatt Mills, this is the reason: he was the one brought up when the Dodgers needed a fresh right-hander on June 30.
The move also tells the story of what Hernández had become in Los Angeles. He made 12 appearances, worked 17 2/3 innings and allowed 8.15 earned runs per nine, with strikeout and walk rates of 18.1% and 14.5%. He was still throwing hard, averaging about 97 miles per hour with both his four-seamer and sinker, but the results were not holding up. That left the Dodgers with a familiar roster decision and no obvious way to keep carrying him on the 40-man roster.
There was a time when Hernández looked like a different pitcher. He posted a 2.90 ERA in 31 innings for the Rangers in the shortened 2020 campaign, then missed 2021 after Tommy John surgery before returning with a 2.97 ERA in 2022. The slide that followed was harder to ignore: a 5.40 ERA in both 2023 and 2024, then most of 2025 spent on the injured list in the minors. Raw velocity was still there, and so was the memory of better work, but neither was enough to protect him from a DFA after a rough stretch in 2026.
What happens next is straightforward even if the outcome is not. Hernández enters the waiver process, where he can be traded, claimed or, if he clears, remain available to any club willing to take him. Mills, meanwhile, gets the immediate chance that comes with a recall, and the Dodgers will find out quickly whether this is a short stay or the start of something longer.
