Kiké Hernandez has become one of the most important Red Sox. That was put on display once again Wednesday night in the Sox' 7-4 win with the 29-year-old notching two more hits, including his third homer in the last two games.
But this wasn't exactly how they drew it up.
When the team signed Hernandez to his two-year, $14 million contract there was an expectation that this was going to be his big chance to become an everyday second baseman. Sure, he would move around to other positions on occasion, but second was going to be his calling card.
In spring training, Red Sox manager insinuated that Hernandez might be best defensive second baseman in baseball, leading to the proclamation that if the Sox had a late lead in a close game the likelihood was that the former Dodger would find his way to second.
But then came the need for a centerfielder and next thing you know Hernandez was doing the seemingly impossible -- limiting the "Jackie would have had it" conversation to a dull murmur.
Then there was the plan to use Hernandez as the leadoff man, a guy who would take advantage of first-pitch fastballs in the spirit of Mookie Betts. But that didn't really take, either, with the Red Sox left searching for a viable leadoff man for much of their first three months.
But now? It's all coming together.
In the last month -- dating back to June 21 -- Hernandez carries the 14th-best OPS (.994) in baseball, tied with Fernando Tatis. Over that time he has managed seven games of two hits over more, with the Red Sox winning six of them.
"I do believe he's not trying to do too much, actually," said Cora after his team's second straight win over the Jays. "It's the other way around. He's working counts, he's hunting pitches in certain spots, and he's putting good swings on it. That was a great at-bat, 0-2 count, gets on top of a fastball and the ball goes out of the ballpark. This started in Kansas City. He doesn't play the games in Atlanta, he doesn't play for three days. Then in Kansas City he started hunting pitches in the zone. He didn't expand and good things started to happen."
Hernandez sits with a WAR of 3.0, only behind Rafael Devers (3.5) and J.D. Martinez (3.1) among Red Sox, while equaling the number currently possessed by Xander Bogaerts.
In terms of fielding, the current Red Sox second baseman has the fifth-best Defensive WAR (1.3) in the majors.
No matter the path, and the bumps in the road long the way, the plan has worked out. Hernandez is an enormous part of the Red Sox' solution.
“I don’t know, to be honest with you. No clue," Hernandez said regarding his turnaround. "I don’t have a secret. Like I said in the past few weeks, I’m just trying to get good at-bats, make good decisions at the pitches that I want to swing at. It’s going well for me right now. I’m just going to try to do my job.”
