Some might have seen Cesar Hernandez's error in the eighth inning Sunday for exactly what it was — a pivotal mental mistake that ultimately led to the Phillies' absorbing a 5-4 loss to the Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park.
Larry Bowa saw it as another teaching moment.
Bowa is finishing up his 51st season in pro ball as the Phillies' bench coach. His duties include infield instruction. Long before the stadium gates open to fans, Bowa is on the field daily working on skills such as footwork with third baseman Maikel Franco, short hops with first baseman Tommy Joseph and all things middle infield with Freddy Galvis and Hernandez.
Sunday offered a mixed bag of results for Galvis and Hernandez. They both made errors, with Galvis’ string of errorless starts at shortstop stopping at 50. But Galvis did have three of the Phillies’ eight hits, including his 20th homer, and knocked in two of their four runs, while Hernandez reached base three times in raising his on-base percentage to .361.
Bowa offered that the miscues made by Galvis and Hernandez on Sunday were evidence that neither player is a finished product. There is still work to do — always is — and it will be done.
But he was quick to point out the improvement that both players have made this season.
“I’m really happy with the way they’ve played,” Bowa said. “The work ethic and preparation they’ve shown have been outstanding.”
Bowa has had that view of Galvis all season. That’s not the case with Hernandez.
Rewind to June. Hernandez was hitting just .248, his on-base percentage had sagged to .293 and he was making mistakes in the field and on the bases, some that showed up in the box score, others that were more subtle but just as noticeable to Bowa’s discerning eyes.
Manager Pete Mackanin held Hernandez out of the starting lineup three times in four days and announced he was ready to play veteran Andres Blanco more. It was a crossroads moment for Hernandez. It was looking like he was slipping to utility-man status.
Before batting practice one day in Minnesota, as Hernandez was about to hit with the extra players, Bowa approached the 26-year-old second baseman and delivered some tough love.
“You know, Pete’s not just giving you a rest,” Bowa said. “You’ll be sitting next to me on the bench for the rest of the season if you don’t change. The manager wants you to hit line drives. You need to make some changes.”
The quick conversation resonated with Hernandez.
“I watched him in the batting cage,” Bowa said. “He was hitting down on everything — line drives.”
A freak occurrence got Hernandez back in the lineup the next day. Joseph woke up feeling under the weather so Mackanin shifted Blanco from second base to first base and used Hernandez at second.
Hernandez made the most of his chance. He had three singles, a triple, a walk and scored three runs in a 7-3 win over the Twins. That performance ignited a run of 75 games, through Sunday, in which Hernandez has hit .324 with a .411 on-base percentage and an .843 OPS. He scored just 19 runs in his first 68 games. He has scored 41 over the last 75.
“I think he’s grown up,” Bowa said. “He’s making fewer mental mistakes. His concentration is better in the field and on the bases.”
Sunday’s costly miscue — Hernandez failed to call off Joseph, causing a ball to drop and the eventual tie-breaking run to reach second — was the second baseman’s 11th error, second-most among NL second basemen.
Still, Bowa has seen defensive improvement.
“He finds me every day before the game and we go over the lineup, how we’re going to play (opposing) hitters,” Bowa said. “Before, I had to go find him.
“I give him reports to study. I’ll say what do you have? He’ll say, ‘Slight pull hitter. Straight away.’ When he started doing that, I knew he was maturing. He’s paying attention to detail a lot more, both offensively and defensively, and he’s been very patient at the plate.”
While maturity has come on the fly this season for Hernandez, it arrived last offseason for Galvis. He made 17 errors in 146 games in 2015, too many for a guy who had been defined by his glove since July 2, 2006, the day both he and Hernandez signed with the Phillies as 16-year-olds in Venezuela.
Last winter, Galvis went home to South America and worked on his defense with his first coach — his dad. He reported to Clearwater and told Bowa he wanted to reduce his errors. Bowa agreed — 17 was too many. The duo worked all spring on defense and the results have been positive. Sunday’s error was just Galvis’ seventh in 146 games this season. He ranks second among big-league shortstops with a .988 fielding percentage.
“If he doesn’t win a Gold Glove it will be an injustice,” said Bowa, who won two Gold Gloves in his time as a big-league shortstop. “He’s the best I’ve seen this year.”
Defense hasn’t been Galvis’ only plus. Those 20 homers and 67 RBIs are pretty attractive. On the downside, he is hitting just .239, has racked up 125 strikeouts, and his .274 on-base percentage is the worst among qualifying players in the majors.
The Phillies’ front office puts a huge emphasis on defense. But it also values players who get on base. Galvis may need to improve that part of his game to hold off top prospect J.P. Crawford down the road.
“He would like to increase his on-base percentage,” Bowa said. “He and Pete have talked about it.
“But let’s not overlook the fact that if we had a better offense, everybody would look at Freddy, the numbers he has right now, and say, ‘Wow.’ The way he’s playing shortstop with 20 homers — they’d take that any day of the week. But because this offense has been stagnant for most of the year, Freddy is under the microscope. He gets too aggressive at times, his two-strike approach needs to be better, but he’s trying and he’s worked his butt off.”
The effort to improve that two-strike approach showed in the first inning Sunday when Galvis stroked a 1-2 pitch from Andrew Cashner up the middle for an RBI single. Nice, easy, controlled swing. RBI.
With more improvement in selectivity and approach, Bowa believes Galvis could hit .280 with 12 homers and an on-base percentage over .325. Mix in Galvis’ defense at a premium position and that’s a helluva player.
The future of the Phillies’ middle infield is still unclear. Team officials are high on second base prospects Jesmuel Valentin and Scott Kingery. And at 21, Crawford is still viewed by many as the long-term guy at shortstop, a factor that could make Galvis an intriguing trade chip if the front office decides to cash him in for value.
But Galvis and Hernandez aren’t about to hand over their jobs without a fight.
“Cesar is really getting it on both sides of the ball,” Bowa said. “And for me, Freddy is the best shortstop in our organization right now. To unseat Freddy, you better be real good because he’s played his butt off.”
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