Welcome to The California Post’s weekly Dodgers recap, where baseball writers Dylan Hernández and Jack Harris review the week that was, hand out very official awards and take stock of the state of the season.
Teoscar Hernández (9-for-20, .522 OBP this week; .262 average, .732 OPS this season)
A week ago, Teoscar Hernández’s month-long slump had gotten so bad –– he hit just .184 over 24 games from April 7 to May 6 –– that things finally reached a tipping point.
First, manager Dave Roberts said the team was considering cutting down on his playing time so he could work through issues with his swing. Ultimately, they went down a different path instead, dropping the two-time All-Star to the No. 8 spot in the batting order for a couple games this week; the first time Hernández had hit that low since 2020.
Right on cue, however, Hernández finally started turning things around.
He had two hits in his first game batting eighth on Monday, including a double that marked his first extra-base knock in two weeks. He followed that up with another two-hit performance Wednesday, when he moved up to the No. 6 spot on a day Shohei Ohtani was out of the lineup and collected his first RBI of the month.
Then came Thursday, when Hernández atoned for a miserable defensive mistake by collecting three hits –– including two doubles and a sixth-inning single that keyed the Dodgers’ go-ahead three-run rally.
Hernández’s overall numbers remain well below his career norms. And it’s fair to wonder whether the 33-year-old is starting to show signs of age (his bat speed has thus far declined for a fourth-straight season, according to Baseball Savant) midway through the three-year, $66 million extension he signed with the Dodgers before last season.
Then again, on a team full of other superstars, the Dodgers don’t exactly need Hernández to be a Silver Slugger-caliber hitter.
What they do need is consistent production. This week, he finally started supplying it again.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
