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Teoscar Hernández Hard Truth: (From July 5 article “Is Teoscar Hernández Still Injured?“)
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In the field, there is no way to sugar coat the fact that 32-year-old Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández’s right field defense has deteriorated from below average to amongst the worst in all of MLB. And, advanced stats do not account for all of the misplays and seemingly indifferent pursuits of base hits that turn singles into doubles and doubles into triples. Fans have become accustomed to seeing balls fall in front of Hernandez as he lopes in from his right field position, failing to dive or slide to make plays.
Six weeks later and the now healthy Hernández remains a defensive liability in right field, literally one of the worst right fielders in all of MLB (Statcast). Playing right field in the Coors Field immense outfield exacerbates Teoscar’s fielding deficiencies, one of the contributing factors to the Dodgers 4-3 loss on Monday night to the Colorado Rockies.
Regrettably, Hernández defense is not the only problem for the 32-year-old Dodger. He is also a below average base runner, is frequently observed lallygagging to first base, and since returning from the IL is a below average run producer according to Fangraphs wRC+.
(Charles LeClaire)
After the Dodgers loss to Rockies on Monday night, manager Dave Roberts uncharacteristically called out Teoscar for his poor defense, saying that “…he had to get better.” That begs the question, why has Roberts failed to address the glaring defensive inadequacies of Hernández earlier in the year? Spring training would have been a good starting place.
At times, Roberts is frustratingly supportive of players who are failing to perform for the Dodgers. From a distance, Roberts fits the definition of insanity – continuing to do the same things over and over again and expecting different outcomes, Hernández and outfielder Michael Conforto being the prime examples of several others.
From one fan’s perspective, Roberts should bench Conforto, move Teoscar to left field, and put 24-year-old Andy Pages in right field. The hole in centerfield must be fixed by Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. One immediate solution is to DFA recently acquired infielder Buddy Kennedy and purchase the contract of Nick Senzel from the Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets. Senzel has demonstrated in the past that he is an average defensive centerfielder and he can hold down the position until Kiké Hernández is ready to play.
Senzel isn’t a great solution to the Dodgers outfield dilemma, but it is better than what the Dodgers have today.
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