The US$23.5 million that the Dodger they are paying Teoscar Hernández This season is not just about the power and run production he offers, his ability to play on the outside corners and his boundless energy and enthusiasm on the field and in the clubhouse.
It’s seed money.
Whenever a Dodgers player hits a home run, Hernández covers the batter in sunflower seeds as he returns to the dugout, a tradition that the 31-year-old from the Dominican Republic with the bushy beard and toothy smile started in Toronto ago a few years and brought it with him to Seattle in 2023 and Los Angeles this season.
And if Hernández goes deep – as he did when his dramatic three-run outburst to right-center field capped a seven-run ninth inning in an 11-9 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on Tuesday night – another player will grab a handful or two of seeds and throw them at the batter .
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“This game is quite difficult – it brings a lot of stress – so you have to have fun,” said Hernández, who signed a one-year contract in January after the Mariners failed to extend a qualifying offer last winter. “I know hitting a home run is good, but this is just extra motivation for the home run and the other players.”
Hernández, who played six seasons (2017-2022) for the Blue Jays, doesn’t remember the exact moment he started the tradition because it was unexpected.
“Everybody had something to celebrate the home run with, but we didn’t have anything at that point,” he said. “There was a bucket with about 20 bags of seeds in the dugout, so I picked one up and threw it in the air, and then everyone started doing it.”
However, there is a proper technique for raining sunflower seeds, which Hernández had to teach his Blue Jays teammates.
“Some guys at the beginning misunderstood and were playing hard,” Hernández said. “Sometimes you hit it in the eyes and sometimes it hits you in the mouth. The secret is to throw the seeds up and let them pass through.”
Mookie Bets was the first Dodger to receive the sunflower seed treatment after hitting the team’s first home run of the season, a two-run shot in a March 21 loss to the San Diego Padres in South Korea. The celebration quickly created roots.
“I’ve seen a lot of home run celebrations, but I’ve never seen a shower of sunflower seeds before,” said the Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas he said. “He started doing this [second] game of the season with Mookie, and he’s been doing it ever since. It makes us feel really good. This makes everything more pleasant. And that’s what this team is about.”
That’s what Hernández has always done. When Hernández hit a two-run double in the 11th inning of a 2-1 victory over the New York Yankees on June 7 and a game-changing grand slam in the eighth inning of an 11-3 victory the next night at Yankee Stadium, the headline The back page of Sunday’s New York Post read: “Oscar the Grumpy.”
But if Hernández were a Sesame Street character, he would be Guy Smiley.
“I’m always laughing. I rarely get mad,” Hernández said. “You can go around and ask people, ‘Have you ever seen Teo angry?’ I don’t think they will say yes. Everyone knows how I play on the field and how I act off it. I’m the same person. I just like to bring joy and happiness to everyone so they can feel good and relax.”
Hernández’s exuberance appears to have rubbed off on his teammates, and his attitude and approach seem suited to high-pressure situations, as he showed during the much-vaunted series that pitted two historic rivals and potential World Series opponents at Yankee Stadium two years ago. weekends. .
Hernández went six for 12 with three homers, two doubles and nine RBIs in the three games against the Yankees.
“Teo was on another level [in New York], on the biggest stage of the season so far, and that gets you excited, because that’s where we want to go,” Rojas said. “We want to reach the playoffs, the World Series, where the stage will be even bigger. And we have a guy who can put the team on his back.”
The Dodgers don’t necessarily need Hernández to carry them into October — they’ve signed a two-time valuable American League player Shohei Ohtani for a star-studded lineup that includes Freddie Freeman It is Will Smith and is waiting for Betts dynamic man and slugger Max Muncy to return from injuries.
But after his bats went cold in the National League Division Series losses to the Padres in 2022 and the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2023, It doesn’t hurt to have another big bat with the potential to thrive on the October stage.
“You feel the adrenaline and you obviously prepare for this type of game, when you play in big moments, in big situations,” Hernández said. “But I try to be the same guy, be myself and not put pressure on myself. I’m not trying to do too much, because that’s when everything starts going the opposite way to what you want.”
Hernández, who entered Friday night’s game against the Angels with a .261 average, .834 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, 18 home runs, 16 doubles and a team-high 54 RBIs, has been solid in the clutch, batting .225 (20 of 89) with an .823 OPS, six homers, five doubles and a triple with runners in scoring position.
He’s batting .308 (four-for-13) with a 1.154 OPS, two homers, a double and 12 RBIs with the bases loaded, his other grand slam coming in the sixth inning of a 5-1 win at San Diego on May 11.
“I’ve said this before, he reminds me a little bit of Manny Ramirez in the sense that when guys are on base, certainly with runners in scoring position, he’s even better,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We’ve seen that from him all year. He’s been sneakily our club’s MVP.”
Hernández hit two homers and drove in four runs in a 6-3 victory over St. Louis on March 29. hitting .260 (nine-for-25) with a 1.389 OPS, four home runs, 10 RBIs, three doubles and six runs in six games from June 3-9.
“He’s been great, especially with Max gone,” right fielder Jason Heyward said, referring to Muncy, who has been sidelined since May 16 with a rib cage strain. “He had some big hits early in the season, some big hits, some big home runs for us. Without a doubt, he helped keep things under control.”
The Dodgers thought the right-handed Hernández would benefit from a change of scenery. Hernández hit just .217 with a .643 OPS, 12 home runs and 44 RBIs at Seattle’s pitcher-friendly T-Mobile Park last season and .295 with an .830 OPS, 14 home runs and 49 RBIs on the road.
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“When you look at last year, I was hitting the ball hard, but everyone knows how the ball travels at T-Mobile Park,” Hernández said. “Now I’m hitting the ball hard and getting the production I hope for.”
While his plate discipline will never rival that of Yankees star Juan Soto, Hernández has been more selective than he was in 2023, when he hit .258 with a .741 OPS, 26 home runs, 29 doubles, 93 RBIs, 211 strikeouts – the third most in baseball – and just 38 walks.
His 92 strikeouts this season are the fifth-most in the majors, but he has walked 27 times, reducing his strikeout rate from 31.1% last season to 28.4% this season and increasing his walk rate from 5.6% in 2023 to 8.4% in 2024.
According to Fangraphies, Hernández’s 29.3% chase rate, the percentage of pitches he hits outside the strike zone, is down from last year’s 34.5%.
“They’re slowly going down,” Hernández said of his hit and chase rates. “I think it’s experience, understanding everything you need to do to improve and executing a game plan. One of my goals for this year is to decrease strikeouts and increase walks so I can get on base more. This way, I can help the team improve.”
Hernández’s productive hitting has been a constant in the middle of the lineup — he and Freeman are the only two Dodgers to have started all 77 games — and his effervescent smile rarely takes away from a night or an at-bat.
“I’ve seen him get frustrated about chasing a pitch, hitting from a big spot or making a mistake in the field, but he gets back to normal real quick, faster than anyone I’ve ever seen,” Rojas said. “So he’ll be excited when he does something really good for the team. That’s why it’s important to have a guy like Teoscar. He brings the energy.”
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This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.
