One of the prospects the Dodgers picked up from the Miami Marlins in the trade for Dee Gordon is 23-years old super-utility ballplayer Enrique "Kike" Hernandez. He was originally drafted in the 6th round of the 2009 Draft by Houston out of Puerto Rico, and was subsequently traded to the Marlins this past July.
Per a
Dodgers Press Release:
Hernandez, 23, combined to hit .319 with 25 doubles, 11 homers and 42
RBI in 98 minor league games in 2014 with Double-A Corpus Christi,
Triple-A Oklahoma City and Triple-A New Orleans. He made his Major
League debut on July 1 with the Astros and was traded to Miami on July
31, combining to appear in 42 big league games with Houston and Miami
and batting .248 with three homers and 14 RBI. In the minors, he
appeared in the field at every position besides pitcher or catcher, with
one game at first base, 47 games at second base, 16 games at third
base, 21 games at shortstop, two games in left field, one game in center
field and 11 games in right field.
In six minor league seasons, the native of Puerto Rico has a .273
batting average with 36 homers and 217 RBI in 512 games after he was
selected by the Astros in the sixth round of the 2009 First-Year Player
Draft.
Kike appears to be extremely versatile and may prove to be very handy to the Dodgers. There were
reports that he was in line for a second base starting job when he was with both the Astros and Marlins last year, so some believe he is ready for the next level. Unfortunately, we are unlikely to find that out this next season. With Kendricks situated at second and with plenty of backups at the ready, he'll have to wait his turn. For a closer peek at the man
here's a fun interview with Kike from late-June (when he was still a member of the Astros), via
Jimmy Price at House of Houston, "Astros Future Interview: Enrique "Kike" Hernandez."
AF: From the games to the photos I have seen, you always seem to be smiling. Do you consider yourself the team clown that keeps everyone laughing around the clubhouse?
EH: “Umm, I don’t want to say clown buttttttt, yes! Haha I definitely love to be that guy that’s always trying to make everyone feel loose and happy. In the end, we’re doing what we love to do and we get to call it a job. Not too many people are fortunate enough to have that.”
In celebration of Hernandez's arrival to the Dodgers I made the above fantasy card
for him. I used a photograph grabbed from a photo from
Zimbio (Bob Levey/Getty Images North America) and the 1968 Topps Baseball card
design.
Below are the career stats for Kike Hernandez, via
Baseball-Reference:
