Last month, the Dodgers bought infielder Yonny Hernandez from the A’s, that had actually asserted him off waivers from the Diamondbacks the month in the past. It was an under-the-radar action for Los Angeles, that will certainly look to the small Hernandez to load the duty abandoned when they selected not to exercise their alternative on Hanser Alberto.
When the DBacks initially obtained Hernandez from the Rangers at the start of the 2022 period, FanGraphs possibility specialist Eric Longenhagen was high up on the offer from Arizona’s viewpoint.
Skilled and also flexible, Hernandez is a most likely major league duty gamer whose capacities can affect a video game in numerous scenarios. He’s hard to set out and also has actually gotten to base at a job.390 clip due to the fact that he strolls a great deal and also has a reliable slash-and-dash offending method. He’s likewise an acrobatic multi-positional infielder. He will certainly provide a major league group a great at-bat off the bench and also is an upgrade on the bases, and also he can capably lead to or sub for any one of your heavy-hitting, shift-enabled infielders (like, at some point, a healthy and balanced Rojas) later on in video games. Hernandez has the fourth-lowest moving strike price in the minors considering that 2019.
That appears truly, truly excellent, ideal? Well, it hasn’t rather played out in the major leagues yet. While he has an above-average strikeout price– simply 18.6% in 194 major-league plate looks– he’s batted.198 with a. 521 OPS for a 48 OPS+. So perhaps I must paste the following sentence Longenhagen discussed Hernandez.
I thought about placing him in the 40+ tier as a result of this, however his bat rate and also power are so plainly below par that I assume it’s not likely he becomes greater than a 1 battle type of role-player.
Hernandez will certainly play excellent protection and also he’ll place the bat on the sphere. The inquiry is whether he’ll strike the sphere hard sufficient to have any type of favorable outcomes, therefore much in his major-league profession, the response has actually been an unquestionable “no.” In his 194 plate looks, Hernandez has precisely one barrel (which is an estimation of departure rate, launch angle, and also anticipated outcomes and also is shorthand for “hit the ball well”), a 391-foot flyout to facility area.
In 194 profession , he has precisely one barrel, this 391-foot flyout to facility. His next-farthest batted sphere was 337 feet. https://t.co/vpHKwZ3bkZ
Hernandez has devices to deal with, without a doubt. He has a great feeling for the strike area and also takes sufficient strolls to have a strong on-base percent. At 140 extra pounds, he’ll likely never ever have the stamina to struck the sphere difficult regularly, however if the Dodgers’ striking group can aid him maximize his launch angle (bear in mind, “launch angle” does not constantly suggest “fly balls”), he can be a functional energy gamer off the bench.
Or, as has actually held true with the DBacks and also the A’s currently this offseason, he can be the initial person pressed off the 40-man lineup if L.A. generates an additional gamer.
