The Braves re-signed right-hander Elieser Hernández to a minor league contract, per their transaction log at MLB.com. It was the obvious outcome for Hernández, who has stepped into the same revolving-door role with Atlanta previously held by fellow veterans Carlos Carrasco and Jesse Chavez.

Hernández, 31, has now signed four minor league contracts with the Braves in the past nine months. Atlanta has selected him to the 40-man roster three times since mid-July. Each time, Hernández has provided one or two multi-inning relief appearances before being designated for assignment, passing through waivers, electing free agency and immediately re-signing on a minor league contract.

It’s a role that Atlanta uses more frequently than any team in the National League. (The Orioles and Albert Suárez may give them a run for their money over in the American League.) The Braves’ pitching staff has been banged up in each of the past two seasons, so having a veteran who’s amenable to being frequently shuffled on and off the 40-man roster by way of a series of DFAs and new minor league contracts holds some extra appeal.

Hernández has pitched 11 big league innings this year and turned in a 2.45 ERA: three runs on 10 hits and six walks with 11 strikeouts. Things haven’t gone as well in Triple-A. Through 81 1/3 innings with the Gwinnett Stripers — Atlanta’s top affiliate — the right-hander has a 4.54 ERA with a 21.8% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate.

Entering the season, Hernández had 5.082 years of big league service time. He won’t reach six full seasons, but he’s picked up another 22 days and is now at 5.104 days. If the Braves select him back to the big league roster, he’d be eligible for arbitration and controlled into next season, though given their usage of him this year, it’s highly unlikely the Braves would keep Hernández on the 40-man roster all winter. He’ll either spend the rest of the season in Triple-A or be selected back to the roster and then outrighted following the season. In either case, he can become a minor league free agent once the season ends. Atlanta could then re-sign him to a minor league deal with a spring training invitation — as they did with Carrasco last winter under near-identical circumstances.