Kike Hernandez has found himself as a fan favorite, and a postseason legend for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now in his second stint with the team, Hernandez recently revealed that his Dodgers legacy almost never came to fruition.
Hernandez was first breaking into the Major Leagues in 2014, eventually arriving in Los Angeles following a trade from the Miami Marlins. Recently, Hernandez told Dodgers insider Mark Langill that he actually had hoped he would be traded again before being convinced otherwise.
“I was hoping I’d be traded again because looking at the Dodger roster at the time, I thought I was going to make a career out of Triple-A baseball,” Hernandez said. “Andrew Friedman got on the phone with me and said their plans were real with me. They were looking for players like me as far as playing different positions. And I was saying to myself, ‘Alright, sure. I’ll believe it when I see it.’ A decade later, here we are.”
Hernandez has become a key piece to the Dodgers success over the last decade. In two stints with the team in his career, he is slashing .236/.305/.403 with 95 home runs and 320 RBIs across nine seasons. In the postseason, he’s been a part of the Dodgers’ 2020, and 2024 World Series winning teams. Hernandez holds a career OPS of .882 in the postseason.
After taking down the Cincinnati Reds in the Wild Card series, the Dodgers will take on the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS. Having a knack for the postseason flare, Hernandez will be looking to create even more memorable moments in what the Dodgers hope will be another run to the World Series.