With depth from top to bottom, the Los Angeles Dodgers were forced to make some difficult decisions when constructing their roster for the National League Division Series. Among the most notable omissions included 2018 All-Star Ross Stripling and the soon-to-be-retired Chase Utley.
Utley’s void was far from a surprise, however, as he garnered only 22 plate appearances in September while going hitless for the month. Still, his impact on the Dodgers clubhouse remains second to none.
Utley’s expertise and attention to detail was recently on display, as he helped Rich Hill correct an issue in which he was tipping his pitches. Hill used that advice to his advantage and turned in a stellar performance in his final start of the regular season against the San Francisco Giants.
“Well, he said it all year. I mean, we’ve been saying it for a few years now. [Utley’s] probably one of the most valuable, if not the most valuable person in the clubhouse,” Dodgers utility man Kiké Hernandez said.
“It doesn’t matter what he does on the field. Towards the end of like last month, things didn’t go as planned, but you wouldn’t know that he was struggling. And that’s the type of person that Chase is and that’s the type of professional that everybody envisions and everybody tries to be.”
Hernandez enjoyed a career year in many offensive categories. He hit a personal-best 21 home runs and 52 RBI over 462 plate appearances, and appeared at eight different positions over the course of 145 games.
Of course, Hernandez credits Utley for his success this season. “I had probably the best season of my career so far,” he began, “and obviously I’m not going to say that I didn’t have like my talent, my ability didn’t have anything to do with it, but I give most of the credit to Chase, because the work ethic that I created by being around him was what allowed me to have a pretty solid season and contribute a lot to the team.
“If he doesn’t play ever again, he already played his last game of his career and here we are today, we got here at noon and we worked out like if he was active, like if he was ready to start a game tonight. So I’ll never be done saying thank you to Chase Utley.”
Hernandez turned a corner this season and proved capable of not only being able to handle left-handers on the mound, but right-handed pitching as well.
He hit a solid .252/.338/.495 against same-handed pitching during the regular season while compiling an excellent .780 on-base plus slugging against southpaws to boot. Hernandez additionally posted an .837 OPS in the second half — a 52-point increase from the first.
“Hit a lot the last few weeks,” Hernandez attributed to his increased workload as of late. “I don’t know. You know, I think for like three years now everybody knows what I can do with my glove and my arm or whatever, but it was about putting it together at the plate, and last two or three years I’ve been fighting myself, fighting my brain, you know, wanting to play every day really bad and not really focusing on the big picture and taking it one day at a time.
“And you know, with the years with failure, you learn a lot, and this year I think by hanging out with Chase, too, I matured a little bit, and learned how to control things that I can control.”
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