PITTSBURGH — It was not fairly a benching. Nevertheless it served as a reminder nonetheless.
Final yr, in some ways, Teoscar Hernández was the guts and soul of the Dodgers. Not their finest participant. Nor their largest star. However somebody who offered effervescent vibes within the clubhouse, veteran management within the dugout and clutch hits in a number of of the season’s largest moments on the plate.
“Teo is a man that we counted on quite a bit final yr,” supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “He’s a man that I actually admire, as a result of he can stability the enjoyable a part of baseball but in addition have that edge.”
This yr, nonetheless, frustration has doused a lot of the enjoyable. Struggles have dulled his typical edge.
Between accidents, slumps, defensive miscues and mechanical swing flaws, Hernández has endured considered one of his worst profession seasons. He’s batting simply .247, his lowest since 2019. He has a .734 OPS, the bottom of his profession and only a smidge above league-average. His restricted vary in proper discipline has led to a flurry of dropped balls and among the poorest defensive metrics of any massive leaguer on the place. And going again to the final week of June, no different Dodger participant (not even Michael Conforto) has been price fewer wins above substitute than Hernández’s negative-0.5 mark, in response to Fangraphs.
“For me, not being the identical as final yr is somewhat irritating,” Hernández stated. “I don’t need to be like that. I need to be higher than final yr. Nevertheless it’s baseball. It’s life. You simply need to hold working, hold trusting in your self and the issues that you are able to do to assist the group.”
Final weekend, nonetheless, Roberts had a unique concept. Within the midst of Hernández’s newest chilly spell, the outfielder was unexpectedly benched for Sunday’s sequence finale in opposition to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“He’s an every-day man,” Roberts stated that day. “However I do suppose that the place we’re at, you’ve received to carry out, too, to warrant being on the market each single day.”
The transfer wasn’t punitive, with Roberts additionally accounting for Monday’s off day in hopes “a two-day reset may assist” the two-time All-Star.
However nonetheless, with the stretch run of the season nearing, the supervisor was dropping a touch to his star slugger as effectively.
“I feel we’ve misplaced somewhat little bit of that edge during the last couple months,” Roberts stated Tuesday of Hernández, having had “quite a few conversations” to speak the identical message with him personally.
“For me, I need to see that edge, that battle, that fireplace, and I’ll wager on any consequence. I simply need to see that. We’re previous the mechanical a part of [his struggles with his swing]. Let’s simply get into the battle. I’ve seen it. And I imagine that’s what’s to return within the subsequent month and past.”
This isn’t the place the Dodgers anticipated to be in after they re-signed Hernández to a three-year, $66 million contract this offseason — a transfer Roberts described as a “no-brainer” on the time after pushing for the entrance workplace to convey the free-agent again to Los Angeles.
He trusted Hernández’s bat, which mashed 33 house runs and 99 RBIs in his debut Dodgers season in 2024. He appreciated Hernández’s heartbeat, and the way he delivered one of many season’s largest swings within the fifth inning of Sport 5 of the World Sequence.
In bringing Hernández again, the Dodgers hoped that his mere presence would elevate the remainder of the roster for this yr’s championship protection.
“He is aware of his worth for our ballclub,” Roberts stated. “He is aware of my expectations of him individually.”
Solely, up to now, Hernández has struggled to copy that very same intangible magic.
After a blistering begin to the season (.315 common, 9 house runs, and an MLB-most 34 RBIs by means of his first 33 video games), the outfielder suffered a groin/adductor pressure whereas stretching for a line drive in Miami, touchdown him on the injured record for 2 weeks. When he returned, he appeared removed from 100%, struggling to rediscover his swing or cowl a lot floor in proper. Earlier than lengthy, a droop took maintain. And because it stretched on by means of the summer time — compounded by foot contusion on a foul ball he suffered in July — frustration started to mount.
“It’s powerful while you really feel good after which one thing occurs and you must miss … regardless of the quantity of video games is perhaps,” Hernández stated. “It was a type of for me this yr. I received injured, then I got here again. I fouled it off my foot after which missed video games [again].”
He later added: “For me, being damage is extra irritating than having a foul yr. I’d slightly be on the sector having a foul yr, than not being on the sector and simply combating backwards and forwards.”
Staying on the sector, after all, hasn’t alleviated Hernández’s issues. After the All-Star break, he stated his physique lastly began feeling higher. On Tuesday, he proclaimed his groin and foot to be again to full well being.
And but, over his earlier eight video games, he had batted solely three-for-27 main as much as Sunday’s removing from the lineup. Worse than that, he had fallen again right into a behavior of chasing an excessive amount of, resulting in non-competitive at-bats at a time Roberts had been making an attempt to emphasise the other.
“[I want to see] Teo getting again to having that edge,” Roberts reiterated.
In Hernández’s return to the lineup Tuesday, some optimistic indicators lastly introduced themselves. He fought off a pair of two-strike pitches earlier than lining a second-inning single. He did the identical factor within the third inning to drive in a run. Defensively, there was one other awkward second, when Hernández didn’t make a sliding catch on a shallow fly ball down the right-field line within the Pittsburgh Pirates’ four-run first inning. However even on that play, Roberts argued postgame, Hernández received an excellent leap and coated plenty of floor — breaking into the sort of hard-charging dash that hadn’t at all times been there earlier this season.
“If I see an excellent leap getting off the ball, good effort, I’ve received no drawback with it,” Roberts stated.
Actually, that’s all Roberts is hoping for from Hernández shifting ahead now.
To have the sort of constant depth stage that has wavered at occasions this season. To rekindle that stability of getting enjoyable and taking part in with an edge down the stretch run of the season.
“We’re going to see that,” Roberts stated. “I’ve little question.”
“You simply depart every part on the sector,” Hernández echoed. “I’m going to maintain working, hold doing my routine, hold doing the stuff that I usually do to get again on observe. And hopefully I get the outcomes that I need to assist the group.”
