The Dodgers president finally bids Enrique Hernandez goodbye after offering another top star free agent $160.4 million…
NEW YORK — Utility player during the summer, difference-maker in October. That is the Enrique Hernández story.
The Los Angeles Dodgers super utility man is one of the most versatile players in the game, and also one of the greatest postseason performers in recent memory. Wednesday night, Hernández added to his legend in Game 3 of the NLCS (LAD 8, NYM 0).
Against righty Reed Garrett, Hernández swatted a two-out, two-strike, two-run homer to stretch LA’s lead to 4-0 in the sixth inning. The Dodgers had stranded a small army on the bases in the first five innings and were letting the Comeback Mets hang around, which is something the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies learned is a very bad idea earlier this postseason.
The home run is Hernández’s second of the postseason. His first, a solo shot in NLDS Game 5 against the San Diego Padres, opened the scoring in the win-or-go-home game. Overall, Hernández is 7 for 21 (.333) with two homers in six games played this postseason, and, believe it or not, he did not play in Game 1 or 3 of the NLDS. He’s been a mainstay since Game 4 though.
“It just brings out the best in me,” he said after Wednesday’s game. “I don’t know if it’s the Latino blood, I don’t know what it is, man, but, you know, I put myself in a position since I was a little kid thinking that I was playing October baseball when the games were important for me as a kid …
You can have one bad postseason and then not go back to the postseason in a couple of years and I’ve been blessed with, this is like my ninth postseason already and I don’t think I’d have the numbers that I have if it wasn’t for how much experience I have and as much as I’ve been in the postseason.”
Hernández became the 20th player with 15 career postseason home runs thanks to his Game 3 heroics; his 223 plate appearances are the second fewest among those 20 players. Only Babe Ruth (15 HR in 167 PA) and Nelson Cruz (18 HR in 207 PA) have hit the ball out of the park at a higher rate than Hernández among the 15-homer club. He’s one of the greatest postseason power hitters ever, truly.
During the regular season, Hernández hits home runs at the pace of, well, a utility player. In the postseason, his career home run rate is roughly what teammate Shohei Ohtani put up this year before October hit. Hernández has a three-homer game to his credit in October (2017 NLCS Game 5) and more postseason series with a 1.000 OPS (seven) than a sub-.700 OPS (six).