Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Cesar Hernandez is producing in order to keep his gig.
Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Cesar Hernandez must be doing a little thinking this spring about the alleged Chinese curse “may you live in interesting times.” The veteran infielder must certainly consider his own current April an interesting time because everybody in the Delaware Valley, if not all of MLB, expects him to lose his job to rising wunderkind Scott Kingery.
Kingery, of course, signed a long-term contract with the Phillies at the end of spring training before he had played a single major league game that counted, and he is a “natural” second baseman. The only problem here is, while the team certainly seems happy about this signing, fairness dictates the Phillies have to consider what to do with Hernandez, their regular at second for several years. A modest chorus has been chanting “trade him” for weeks.
This hasn’t happened, seemingly, because that Hernandez has been the team’s leading hitter among regulars for the past two years and is most days the team’s fastest, if not most skilled, baserunner. Thus, Kingery has assumed the role of super-utilityman to begin his career although many expect him to settle at second base.
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Will that happen, however? While Hernandez has said “all the right things” about his friendly competitor, he certainly seems determined to hang on to his starting job with the Arrieta-infused, suddenly more interesting Phillies. Just before the start of the season, Hernandez declared:
"“All I can tell you is that I’m going to be ready to play every single day. If I’m not in the lineup, that’s fine. It’s the manager’s decision… We’re trying to play very selfless baseball here. We don’t want to be selfish. So if it’s going to help us win more games, then that’s what it’s going to be.”"
“It” near the end of this remark would seem a reference to sitting on the bench, and thus far Hernandez has prevented that through his play. He is hitting .313 with a homer, a couple of RBI, and a couple of steals before play on Apr. 10.
Most interesting, perhaps, is the fact that he has walked at a much higher rate than earlier in his career, registering eight walks in nine games against ten strikeouts. He has made only two errors in 45 chances. Tim Kelly of SportsTalkPhilly.com also notes Hernandez has six multiple on-base games in the first nine he and the team have played.
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The most important number for Hernandez, though, may be someone else’s, namely Kingery’s. The rookie phenom has played only part of one game at second base. Instead, for the moment, Kingery seems to be playing shortstop, replacing the struggling J.P. Crawford in a move that appears to threaten to become at least semi-permanent.