After Soto returns, can the Nats make room for Hernandez?
Logically, that squeezes Hernandez back to the minors, where he has played four seasons since defecting from Cuba in 2015. But Hernandez, a strong left-handed hitter, has kept pressuring the Nationals to carry him despite the puzzle that could create with Hernán Pérez or Jordy Mercer.
In two starts against the Mets, facing righties Marcus Stroman and Taijuan Walker, Hernandez batted second and went 4 for 6 with two RBI and a pair of walks. In spring training, across 36 plate appearances, he posted a .469 batting average, a .500 on-base percentage and a .719 slugging percentage. That included two home runs, two doubles and two walks. And he still only made the Opening Day roster because 11 players were sidelined by a coronavirus outbreak.
His response? Keep hitting, in samples big and small. Hernandez was the Nationals’ 2019 minor league player of the year, bashing 33 home runs for the Class AAA Fresno Grizzlies in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. When finally promoted last September, he collected just five hits — one of them a walk-off homer — in 28 plate appearances but flashed his opposite-field pop. He swung his way to another chance. In 2021, that hasn’t changed.
“The more at-bats I get, the more comfortable I feel and the better I should be playing,” Hernandez said in Spanish through a team interpreter Saturday. “It’s kind of hard to come off the bench and produce, just one at-bat here and there. But the more I play, the more comfortable I feel. And hopefully the results will be there.”
So far, that math checks out for a team that has needed it to. The Nationals have been blanked in a majors-worst five games. In two others, they managed just one run. In recent contests, Hernandez has not only helped fill the void left by Soto but also the lack of production from Josh Bell and Kyle Schwarber. But once Soto is activated, and an outfield of Schwarber, Victor Robles and Soto is restored, can the Nationals make room for Hernandez’s bat on the 26-man roster?
The short answer: Yes.
The longer answer: It likely depends on how they feel about having Pérez and Mercer. Once Soto is cleared, the Nationals will have six reserves in Hernandez, backup catcher Alex Avila, first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, outfielder Andrew Stevenson, and Pérez and Mercer, a pair of utility players. That means they would have to dump one of Avila, Zimmerman, Stevenson, Pérez or Mercer for Hernandez to stay as an extra outfielder and left-handed pinch-hitting option.
Avila and Zimmerman aren’t going anywhere. Stevenson seems safe because he plays left, center and right, which Manager Dave Martinez requires of a fourth outfielder. (Hernandez, by contrast, is much slower and can’t moonlight in center.) Pérez or Mercer, then, are who could soon knock Hernandez to the minors. An argument in Hernandez’s favor is that neither Pérez, 30, nor Mercer, 34, has done much this season. It’s also fair to question, given their similarities, how they both could factor into a game that doesn’t include a bunch of pitching changes and/or extra innings.
Since Bell, Schwarber and Josh Harrison returned from the coronavirus-related IL on April 12, Mercer has one start (at second base) and 12 plate appearances. Pérez has three plate appearances and has thrown two scoreless mop-up innings in blowouts. Pérez didn’t appear in the three-game series against the Mets. All that feels expendable, and as though Hernandez’s best shot is to supplant one of these two.
“Two things that I like about Yadi: When he’s not playing, I can plop him in and put him in the right spot to drive in some runs for us, which is awesome,” Martinez said Saturday. “The other thing is that he really improved in the outfield, a lot. And that’s good. I feel comfortable and confident to put him out there in right field and have him play maybe two or three times a week right now.”
“Right now,” indicating until Soto returns, is the catch. Roster semantics with Pérez and Mercer are additional factors. Hernandez is familiar with it all.
In late March, when the Nationals were devising their first roster of the year, they optioned Hernandez to the Class AAA Rochester Red Wings. One member of the Nationals’ front office, who is not authorized to speak publicly about personnel decisions, said at the time: “I’d hate to be the one who has to tell Yadiel that he’s not going to Washington. All he did was hit this spring.” The team instead tabbed Pérez and Mercer for organizational depth and defensive versatility. If they cut either veteran now, they risk losing him for good.
Pérez is out of minor league options. If taken off the roster, he would go on waivers, where any of the 29 other teams could pick him up for little money. Mercer has a minor league option but, with five years of major league service, would have to accept a minor league assignment if the Nationals choose to demote him. And as bench pieces, Mercer plays any spot in the infield, and Pérez has experience at third, second, shortstop, first, left, center, right and pitcher, as seen in his high-arcing eephus pitch and willingness to take the ball.
They don’t have Hernandez’s offensive upside. Yet part of Hernandez’s value is that, with remaining minor league options, he can swing between the majors and minors with no consequences. Mercer and Pérez don’t offer that kind of flexibility. As promised, the situation is muddled and complex.
