With injuries having already significantly impacted their pitching staff, the Los Angeles Dodgers are now starting to lose position players with Teoscar Hernández the latest to fall victim.
Hernández was removed from Wednesday’s game during the third inning due to a left hamstring strain. Hyeseong Kim entered the game to play left field for the first time in his young Major League career, even when factoring in Spring Training. He’d last spent time in left field during the 2025 season, making three starts for Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Kiké Hernández would have been a more natural option to replace Teoscar Hernández, but he was put back on the 10-day injured list before the game due to a significant left oblique strain. The Dodgers recalled Alex Freeland as the corresponding roster move.
Hernández grabbed his left hamstring after running through first base on a groundout in the bottom of the second inning. Hernández walked slowly back to the dugout and nearly slammed his helmet into the bat rack before going into the clubhouse.
He entered the night batting .346/.397/.577 with three home runs and 14 RBI over the last 15 games. That was part of improved results during the month of May, when Hernández has hit .329/.404/.488 with four doubles in addition to the three homers.
Hernández’s sluggish start to the season played a role in getting dropped in the Dodgers lineup of late, though he was slotted sixth in the order for the series finale against the Colorado Rockies.
“He certainly responded really well,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently said of Hernández bouncing back from being moved down. “That wasn’t my plan, initially, to have him hit eighth. I just felt the way things were going, the way he was going, I thought it needed to be done.
“You can look at it different ways; as a challenge, or giving him a different look. However he took it, he’s responded well and knows that I always have his and everyone’s best interest at heart. But we needed him to be better and have more consistent at-bats. He’s doing that right now.”
What Teoscar Hernández injury means for Dodgers
Hernández presumably is going to be put on the injured list before the Dodgers start their weekend series against the Philadelphia Phillies, and it could amount to another opportunity for Ryan Ward.
Ward made his MLB debut earlier this season when an opportunity to join the roster was created due to Freddie Freeman going on the paternity list.
Another option would be to recall Alek Thomas, who is on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster as well. The Dodgers acquired Thomas in a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier this month.
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