In a billion-dollar Dodgers offseason, a one-year, $4 million transfer is making a distinction.
It wasn’t till weeks into spring coaching that the Dodgers introduced Kiké Hernández again to the sector, however they did so with this time of yr in thoughts. Now, the profession .238 hitter is as soon as once more turning into an October phenom.
After hitting a homer in Game 5 of the National League Division Series in opposition to the Padres, Hernández added to his rising checklist of postseason heroics with one other residence run Wednesday night time in Game 3 in Queens. In an 8–0 blowout in opposition to the Mets that put the Dodgers again forward within the NLCS, supervisor Dave Roberts referred to as Hernández’s blast – the fifteenth postseason residence run of his profession – the most important hit of the sport.
“This man all the time rises to the event,” Roberts stated earlier than the collection. “The purpose we bought him this yr was to win 11 video games in October.”
Every night earlier than playoff video games, Hernández practices visualization. As he goes to sleep, he imagines each state of affairs he can consider that may occur the following day, and imagines himself succeeding.
It’s a observe he began after a few postseason failures.
In the decisive Game 5 of the 2015 NLDS, Hernández went hitless and grounded right into a double play for a run. The following yr, he appeared thrice within the NLCS in opposition to the Cubs, however went hitless in his eight at-bats because the Dodgers misplaced in six video games.
So, the next yr, going through the identical workforce, he determined to alter gear.
Entering Game 5 of the 2017 NLCS, he was 6-for-29 with an extra-base hit in his profession postseason. It was a tumultuous time in his private life, having simply misplaced his grandfather and watching Hurricane Maria devastate his native Puerto Rico.
Yet, within the chaos, visualization strategies had been born.
“I used to be like, I’m uninterested in pondering, ‘What if?’” Hernández recalled.
He thought not solely about delivering within the largest moments, but additionally about how he would reply questions after he put the workforce within the World Series. Less than 24 hours later, he did simply that. Hernández launched three residence runs and scored an LCS-record seven of the Dodgers’ 11 runs within the rout at Wrigley Field.
“And I have never regarded again since,” Hernández stated earlier this postseason. “You simply have to grasp that there are solely two methods issues can go: You can succeed or you’ll be able to fail. You cannot simply be afraid of failure. And you simply must need the second, it’s a must to need the second at bat.”
With that his October legend started.
He has now launched 15 residence runs in his final 62 playoff video games, tied with Babe Ruth and Jayson Werth for the 18th most in postseason historical past.
Of the 20 gamers with at the least 15 postseason homers, Hernández’s 13.33 at-bats per residence run trails solely Nelson Cruz, Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Mickey Mantle for the very best mark in postseason historical past. He hits a house run greater than twice as typically within the playoffs as he did within the common season (as soon as each about 29 at-bats).
With every nice swing, his visualization strategies assist him quell any anxiousness he could also be feeling.
“You simply discover a manner, no matter it’s a must to discover, in order that when the second comes, when the large second comes and also you step up or no matter it’s, you do not let the second get too huge,” Hernández stated.
After six years with the Dodgers, Hernández sought an on a regular basis alternative in Boston. In the 2021 postseason, Hernández homered in Games 2 and three of the ALDS with the Red Sox. Then he homered thrice within the first two video games of the ALCS. Although the Red Sox misplaced in six video games to the Astros, Hernández completed the 2021 postseason going 20-for-49 with 10 extra-base hits.
“I really feel like belief is a alternative,” Hernández stated. “It’s a thought. It’s a sense. If you could find a solution to really feel in a different way about it, every part will change, your physique language will change, and good issues – once you carry your self with good physique language, assured physique language, assured power: most of the time, good issues are inclined to occur.”
Last yr, Hernández returned to the Dodgers on the expiration of his contract. He was near league common within the second half, which was a quantum leap from his first-half struggles in Boston. This spring, he was nonetheless a free agent when the Dodgers despatched Manuel Margot, who had been acquired two months earlier of their commerce for Tyler Glasnow, to Minnesota. A reunion with a high-utility participant with a penchant for postseason manufacturing made sense.
Hernández’s playoff success with the Dodgers continued into 2024.
But the primary half was as soon as once more a battle for Hernández, who entered halftime hitting .191. At that point he discovered a treatment. Hernández found he had astigmatism in his proper eye and started sporting prescription glasses on the sector for the primary time. He caught fireplace within the second half, slashing .274/.307/.458 after halftime.
However, on the Dodgers’ deep roster, he solely had two at-bats within the first three video games of the NLDS. He did not begin for the primary time this postseason till Game 4, when shortstop Miguel Rojas was too injured to proceed. Before the sport, with the Dodgers susceptible to elimination, Hernández issued a message to the workforce that will function a rallying cry.
The juice?
“Fuck everybody,” Max Muncy defined succinctly.
Gavin Lux added: “Kiké has the very best mentality on the subject of the playoffs, and I feel everybody feeds off his power. I completely feed off it.”
In his first begin within the NLDS, Hernández recorded two hits in an elimination sport. He has began each sport since then. The Dodgers are outscoring their opponents 30-7 in video games began by Hernández this postseason.
His profession common season OPS is .654; within the postseason, he is now over .900.
“The undeniable fact that I had a fairly good observe file in October, I can not assist however (have it) give me confidence,” he stated after Wednesday’s win. “And it simply makes you imagine that you will take your sport to a different stage.”
At the time of Hernández’s 378-foot shot on the sixth pitch of his sixth inning at bat in opposition to Mets reliever Reed Garrett, Game 3 of the NLCS was nonetheless up for grabs. The Dodgers led by two runs with the bullpen poised to resolve the sport the remainder of the best way.
As has occurred so typically this October for the Dodgers relievers, this labored of their favor. Hernández’s two-run homer gave them some respiratory room, doubling the lead.
It wasn’t fairly the identical homer he hit in Game 5 of the 2017 NLCS, when he started to earn his fame, or the one in Game 7 of the 2020 NLCS, when he helped spark a visit to the World Series with a one-game tie at sixth inning. But as soon as once more he made the distinction for a gaggle of Dodgers gamers hoping to finish one other title Los Angeles.
This time, there’s an added incentive for Hernández and his teammates, who need to have fun a championship with their followers in a manner they have not been capable of for the reason that success of a pandemic-shortened 2020.
“If there may be something this crowd represents, it’s starvation,” Hernández stated. “They need a championship. … We understand how a lot they need it.”
Rowan Kavner is an MLB author for FOX Sports. He beforehand coated the LA Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU graduate, Rowan was born in California, raised in Texas, then returned to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
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