at USCA without having visited in the hope that he could pitch there during the 1986 season and prepare for the draft. He hurt his arm pitching in the fall and would undergo surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow. Once he recovered from surgery, he pitched well in the spring. Every time he began warming up for a game he would notice that 10-15 scouts would be watching him with a radar gun. Hernández’s success in the 1986 season helped put USCA on the map for professional scouts. The school would later refurbish and rename their baseball field after him. Professional career Hernández was selected by the California Angels as the 16th pick in the first round of the 1986 amateur draft. He was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1989. In 1991, while pitching for the Vancouver Canadians of the Pacific Coast League, Hernández experienced numbness in his pitching hand, later determined to be caused by blood clots. He was rushed into emergency surgery to have veins transplanted from his inner thigh to his forearm. The surgery was successful and he went on to make his major league debut as a starting pitcher against the Kansas City Royals on September 2 of that year. Hernández had a long and largely successful career as a relief pitcher in the major leagues. In 1993, he was instrumental in the White Sox' drive for the American League West Division pennant, going 2–1 with 21 saves in the second half of the season. He made four appearances in the American League Championship Series that year and pitched four scoreless innings. During the season, the White Sox traded Hernández, Wilson Álvarez, and Danny Darwin, to the San Francisco Giants for six prospects (Keith Foulke, Bob Howry, Lorenzo Barceló, Mike Caruso, Ken Vining, and Brian Manning in what became known as the White Flag Trade. He appeared in all three games of the National League Division Series against the Florida Marlins. After the season, he signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In 1999, he earned his career-high of 43 saves which was a Devil Rays team record until 2010. Despite his 43 saves, the team only won 69 games overall. His performance level declined after being traded to the Kansas City Royals prior to the season. He went on to sign as a free agent with the