Kiké Hernandez has been an essential part of the Los Angeles Dodgers roster the last few years, although it has been in more of a Swiss Army knife role as opposed to an everyday player at one position.
That may be changing in 2019 with the starting second base job up for grabs and Hernandez having a huge spring thus far in effort to stake his claim for it. Hernandez hit his first two home runs of the year on Saturday afternoon, accounting for the only two runs in a win over the Seattle Mariners.
After the game, he discussed how it feels to not have to compete for a roster spot for really the first time in his career and instead being able to focus on earning a starting job, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“This is the first time I feel I don’t have to necessarily make the team,” Hernandez said after homering twice in the Dodgers’ 2-0 win over the Mariners. “But everything else is the same. I’ve had a lot of struggles in my career and because of them I’ve become a better player, made a lot of adjustments physically and the way I prepare. I guess there’s a little sense of achievement.”
Hernandez has been one of the team’s best hitters so far, batting .435/.462/.826 with three doubles and eight RBI in nine Cactus League games.
He is coming off a season in which he set career highs in games played (145), home runs (21), RBI (52), runs scored (67) and walks (50).
Given Hernandez’s defensive versatility, it is possible that Chris Taylor sees a majority of the time at second base so Hernandez can continue to move all around the diamond. Regardless of what position he plays though, Hernandez is forcing Dodgers manager Dave Roberts’ hand to write his name in the lineup card just about every day in 2019.
