by Cary Osborne
It hadn’t quite reached the All-Star Break. Dodger outfielder Teoscar Hernández was still hoping to hear that he would be selected for the National League All-Star team. But he also revealed another hope during the first week of July.
Things were going so well in his first season with the Dodgers and he felt so embraced by Los Angeles that Hernández said he wanted to be with the Dodgers beyond 2024.
Since that day, Hernández made the NL All-Star team, he won the All-Star Game Home Run Derby, achieved a career high with 33 home runs, was clutch in the postseason on numerous occasions and won his first World Series.
Then, the nine-year Major League veteran declared again as a free agent after the season that he wanted to remain a Dodger.
“I want to be here. I want to be part of this,” he said on Nov. 1 after the Dodgers’ World Series championship parade.
His hope has come true.
The 2024 Silver Slugger-winning outfielder and the Dodgers agreed to a three-year contract on Friday.
During the Winter Meetings in Dallas earlier this month, both President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and Executive Vice President and General Manager Brandon Gomes said it was also the Dodgers want for Hernández to re-sign with the Dodgers.
Everything lined up.
Hernández’s signing appears to complete the everyday outfield makeup for the Dodgers. Hernández in left field, Tommy Edman in center and newly signed Michael Conforto in right. Though it also leaves room for mixing and matching.
The switch-hitting Edman can fill in at the middle infield spots to give both Mookie Betts (shortstop) and Gavin Lux (second base) a breather. Rookie Andy Pages mashed left-handed pitching in 2024 (.357 average/.917 OPS against LHP) and has an elite arm that can play across the outfield.
Veteran Chris Taylor and James Outman are potential options in the outfield.
Hernández, 32, had a year-to-year improvement from 2023 to 2024 in batting average (+.014) and slugging percentage (+.066) and showed better plate discipline, reducing his strikeout percentage by 2.3% and out of zone swing percentage by 6.5%.
He batted .272/.339/.501/.840 with 33 home runs, 99 RBI and a 137 OPS+ in 154 games.
Hernández led all NL outfielders in home runs, RBI and slugging percentage in 2024.
Teoscar Hernández is returning to the Dodgers was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.