Coming into this season, I was totally behind Kiké Hernandez holding down the fort as the Red Sox starting shortstop until Trevor Story is cleared to return from internal UCL brace surgery. Hernandez made his name as a utility player, and I’d always considered him the prototypical “super-sub” who could fill in virtually anywhere and play adequately. On top of that, Kiké stood up and made himself known as the guy who wanted to take up the leadership mantle in Boston following the departure of Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, and Nathan Eovaldi. I respected his talent, his versatility, and his willingness to fill whatever role the organization needed him to fill.

Now, less than halfway through the season, I find myself wondering if Kiké Hernandez even has a place on this team anymore.

After Kiké’s solid 2021, I felt like he had turned a corner in his career. I thought that settling in as the starting center fielder removed the mental burden of being a jack-of-all-trades, which allowed him to focus more on hitting and resulted in him becoming an above average everyday offensive player (.250 BA, 20 HR, 60 RBI, .786 OPS, 127 hits, and an historic postseason). Once he recovered from the hip injury that wrecked his 2022, I was confident that Kiké’s Swiss army knife background would help the Red Sox salvage the 2023 season in the wake of Story’s injury. I felt that pivoting from center field to shortstop for 60% of 2023 would be but a minor obstacle for a team-first guy that works as hard as him.

I was wrong.

 

Shortstop 

It’s not like Kiké was a total stranger to shortstop prior to 2023. He’d played 91 games there in his career, committing only six errors in 267 chances. He’s been undoubtedly the worst defensive shortstop in baseball this year though, already committing 13 errors in only 169 chances going into Monday night’s loss. Then he made another error on Monday, a costly one that led to Colorado’s first run in a 4-3 Red Sox loss. 

It’s not just the amount of errors he’s committed, it’s that they all seem to lead to runs at crucial times. It was one thing back in April, when the mashing Red Sox offense could cover up for Kiké’s misdeeds. It’s another thing entirely now that the offense has turned anemic, clawing haplessly for each run like a starving raccoon pawing through a dumpster.

With Rafael Devers hitting under .250, Adam Duvall shaking off rust while recovering from a broken wrist, Triston Casas struggling in his rookie season, and Hernandez himself hitting at a clip far beneath the lofty expectations he created for himself two seasons ago, the Red Sox can’t afford to have a shortstop who sets the entire team on edge whenever a ball is hit toward him in a high-leverage situation.

Despite an early offensive surge spurred by hot starts from Devers, Duvall, and Alex Verdugo, they are hitting .225 as a team in close and late situations (21st in MLB). After reaching as high as third in team batting through mid-May, they’ve fallen back to seventh (.259) during this abysmal cold spell, which began when they were swept at Fenway by a lousy Cardinals team. They look destined to fall even further back in the coming days and weeks unless they manage a drastic about-face. Keeping an inept butcher at the toughest defensive position on the field is a luxury they can in no way afford.

Trevor Story is not expected to return, in any defensive capacity at least, until sometime in August. Yu Chang has suffered a setback in his return from a broken hand. Christian Arroyo sees the field about as often as Chris Sale, and would likely suffer a hamstring or groin injury within a week if slotted in as the starting shortstop.

Pablo Reyes, a light-hitting defensive specialist who has never played more than 71 games in a season (including a total of four games at shortstop before arriving in Boston), is the only sensible option that seems capable of actually fielding the position for the next six weeks or so until Story can realistically return. Reyes can contribute light offense and steady defense at short, which would be a welcome sight compared to the light offense and atrocious defense that Hernandez has brought to the table.

It’s tough to see Kiké embarrass himself while hurting the team so badly after my expectations were so high coming into the year. I had expected a lot of backtracking this season from pundits who had labeled him as a bench player who was in over his head and just “got lucky” in 2021. You don’t play a great center field, hold down the leadoff spot on an elite offense, and tear the cover off the ball throughout October by getting lucky.

But for whatever reason, he has not been up to the task this season. Maybe he’s still not 100% from his hip surgery last year. Maybe he has a case of the “yips” that is wreaking havoc mentally on his entire game. Or, more likely, maybe he is just not a talented enough defender to hold down the incredibly demanding position of being the starting shortstop on a MLB team. Regardless of any forensic analysis we may conduct on the matter, the truth is clear.

Kiké Hernandez cannot play shortstop for the Boston Red Sox any longer.

Which begs an even more depressing question … what is Kiké Hernandez’ role on this team anyway?

 

Center Field

It’s not as simple as sliding him back into center field. Chaim Bloom signed Adam Duvall to insert some righthanded pop into the lineup when Story went down. Duvall is the one righty on the roster that could provide some desperately needed punch to the middle of the order, and Alex Cora needs him there to balance out lefties Devers and Masataka Yoshida. On top of that, Duvall can play center field just as well as Hernandez.

Even if Cora is worried about Duvall reinjuring his wrist and wants to DH him frequently, that doesn’t mean Kiké would be getting those center field reps. Jarren Duran has game-changing speed and has shown some incredible promise since his April call-up, both at the plate and in the field. He is 26 years old, and under team control for the next five years plus. Kiké, like Duvall, is playing on a one-year contract. Continuing Duran’s development is of far more importance to the organization than enhancing Kiké’s upcoming free agency campaign.

And let’s not forget Cedanne Rafaela in Portland, who had been anointed as the unquestioned center fielder of the future before Duran turned things around this year. A sensational defensive center fielder who can also play shortstop (unlike Kiké), the question that formerly surrounded Rafaela was if his bat would play at the MLB level. He turned that narrative around in A+ and AA ball last season, and he’s continued to excel in Portland with a .285 BA, 5 HR, 34 RBI, and 27 stolen bases in 51 games.

In other words, Kiké has zero shot of ever returning to his former role as the starting center fielder for the Boston Red Sox.

 

Second Base

Kiké plays a pretty good second base. He also seems to thrive offensively while playing there, hitting .339 with a 1.052 OPS, 9 HR, and 24 RBI in 45 games there in early 2021, the last time he played second with any frequency. Hernandez would probably become the everyday second baseman if Cora makes the logical move of installing Pablo Reyes as the regular shortstop, with Arroyo staying in the utility infielder role. However, this may not actually be the best move for the team.

Much like Duran, Enmanuel Valdez opened a lot of eyes when he was called up early this season. He has emerged as a potential star over the past two years, drilling 26 home runs in the minors in 2021 and 28 more in 2022. He has a lot of room for growth at 24 years old, and he’s clearly been eyed by Chaim Bloom as a potential building block for the future since being acquired in the Christian Vazquez trade. His glove has been a serious issue at every level of pro ball, but he seemed to settle in after his first few big league games, even managing to play a halfway competent second base.

Kiké is definitely a better second baseman, but Valdez put up similar offensive numbers to Hernandez in his 33 games with Boston. Duvall’s activation from the Injured List forced Valdez back down to Worcester, where he promptly pounded two more homers in his next three games. It’s quite possible that Bloom thinks Valdez would benefit more from additional on-the-job training as Boston’s starting second baseman than he would from teeing off on Minor League pitching some more, especially if the Sox fall out of the Wild Card race. And with Chris Sale now back home on the IL following his brief active-duty stint, that scary possibility may be a mere James Paxton injury away from becoming a depressing reality.

Of course, if Bloom ever does decide that the Red Sox are truly out of playoff contention, no veteran position players (besides Devers and Story) are safe. Kiké, Turner, Duvall, even Verdugo could realistically be dumped for the right price. If Boston spirals and you have less than two full years of team control left, don’t get too comfortable.

 

Utility Player

Which brings us to the one role that we know Hernandez can fill better than anybody in the Red Sox organization.

I’ve always valued players who can move all over the diamond, and I feel like the value guys like that provide is extremely underrated. Guys like Kiké, Chris Taylor, and Kris Bryant, who have had great offensive stretches and can play virtually every defensive position, are a manager’s best friend. They provide great redundancy for injuries, and their ability to shift around mid-game can help create matchup nightmares for opposing bullpens. When a team does acquire a utility player who can swing the stick pretty well, hometown crowds quickly learn how valuable they are and take them in as fan favorites (see Brock Holt).

While Kiké was originally brought here to fill that very role, he spent very little time doing so before the insanity of the 2021 Opening Day Red Sox outfield picture fell into focus. Only about 5% of his Red Sox career to this point has been spent as a utility guy, and I become more convinced every day that if he has any kind of future in Boston beyond this year’s trade deadline, it will be in that role.

In my opinion, there are better everyday options at every position he plays. Arroyo is too injury prone to depend on. Reyes is a AAAA player. Chang lacks the leadership, experience, and intangibles that may be Kiké’s greatest assets now. As a super sub, Hernandez is a proven commodity that can contribute on both sides of the ball. 

 

Pride

The big question at play in this scenario is Kiké’s own personal attitude toward reverting to a utility role. Kiké Hernandez the starting center fielder/shortstop seems to be a team-first guy with a selfless, winning attitude. Does that attitude change on a dime if his role is reduced? Xander Bogaerts also carried the reputation of a selfless, team-first guy … until he entered his contract year.

We see it all the time in professional sports. Everybody’s best friend one day — pariah with an attitude problem the next. Kiké doesn’t seem like the type of guy who would become embittered by the business side of baseball, but that doesn’t mean he’s immune to veering onto that course as a lame duck bench player.

Pro athletes are prideful creatures, and we all know what the great philosopher Marsellus Wallace told us about pride. I don’t care if you’re Kiké Hernandez, Xander Bogaerts, or Butch Coolidge.

Nobody wants to go down in the fifth.

 

By Luke

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