Kiké Hernández went over two weeks without an error at shortstop, but Tuesday was a reminder of his shortcomings at the position.
Tabbed as Boston’s stopgap with Trevor Story injured, Hernández has done a decent job. He’s been largely fine with the glove, but his throwing has been erratic.
He had two such errors in Boston’s 9-8 loss to the Reds, one of which resulted in a run scoring. Hernández now has 11 miscues on the season, which leads all shortstops.
“The errors are the errors, right? Yesterday he took a ball in the hole and he threw it away, then the second one was a tough one. He needs to be better," Sox manager Alex Cora said Wednesday in his weekly appearance on "Gresh & Fauria." "And one of the things we always talk about, and this is the reality of baseball, do we care about the errors or do we care about defensive runs saved?
“When you make a lot of errors, everybody starts talking about that. But, obviously, there are other metrics that come into play, and he’s been solid actually the last two months. I know he went through that rut earlier in the season. He made the two (Tuesday) and obviously it’s going to be a topic.
“One of the things we always talk about with him, just be an athlete at shortstop. But yeah, he’s been throwing the ball away throughout the season, you can’t hide that fact, but there are some other aspects that he brings to the equation. He’s getting to some balls that (are difficult), we’ve just got to roll with him.”
The Red Sox basically need Hernández to tread water. Story could potentially be back before July is over, and Yu Chang has been on a rehab assignment as well – though it’s currently paused as he deals with soreness.
So, there will eventually be options to bolster the position defensively. But they’re not there yet, and in the interim, the Red Sox need Hernández to cut down on the gaffes.
“We’re going to get healthy, when Trevor comes back he’ll be the shortstop of the Red Sox. I don’t know when that’s going to happen, but as of now Kiké is going to play shortstop.”
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