The Los Angeles Dodgers have players with All-Star potential at seemingly every position going into 2020, making them one of the deepest teams in the baseball.
Even their bench players such as Kiké Hernandez would be starters on many other teams, and he is out to prove why he should be an everyday player for L.A. as well.
Hernandez has spent five seasons with the Dodgers, mostly serving as their primary utilityman. Top prospect Gavin Lux is expected to be the starting second baseman in 2020, but he struggled a bit after being called up last September and there’s no guarantee that he makes the Opening Day roster.
Meanwhile, Hernandez has been making the most of his opportunities this spring in hopes of winning that job. In 10 Cactus League games, he is batting .259/.286/.630 with one double, three home runs and nine RBI.
The 28-year-old revealed that he has made a mechanical change with his hips and swing starting at the end of last year and he believes has led improved results, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“I’m a guy with very loose hips, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing in baseball, but in my case it’s like my enemy,” Hernández said. “My hip flies open. Now I get myself in a better position to be more efficient and direct to the ball with my upper half.
“It was literally the workout day before the playoffs that I said I was going to do this, and [I] started hitting the ball really far in BP and had good at-bats in the postseason. It was the quality of the at-bat, recognize pitches early and be on time. I was just messing around, and it turned out it worked.”
Hernandez is in his final year of club control with the Dodgers, so he has a little extra motivation to perform in 2020 before hitting free agency next winter.
His ability to move all around the diamond likely will mean that he won’t be locked into any one position, but that doesn’t mean he can’t essentially be an everyday player for the Dodgers.
While some of Hernandez’s results have dipped of late, if he continues to swing the bat well and make quality contact, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts will be forced to pencil him into the lineup.
He has been vulnerable to long slumps in the past though, so only time will tell if Hernandez can right the ship for the longterm.
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