On Saturday morning before their doubleheader, the Boston Red Sox were forced to put Mitch Moreland on the IL after he suffered a quad strain. Moreland had just come off the IL with a back strain and only lasted six innings before he got hurt again.
So, Moreland was sent down and the Red Sox made the corresponding call-up to replace him. The player that got the call was Marco Hernandez.
Hernandez, a 26-year-old middle infielder, hadn't played in the majors since 2017. He missed about two years of action recovering from a shoulder injury that required multiple surgeries. However, despite the difficulties he faced in getting back to the MLB, Hernandez never gave up in his journey.
“I never put my head down,” Hernandez said, per Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe. “I always stayed positive because I knew if I could get healthy I could play. Everybody saw what I can do on a baseball field.”
Hernandez hit .284 during over the course of two seasons with the Red Sox in just 61 games. Before he suffered the injury, he was looking like a potentially solid hitter that could eventually take over at second base for Dustin Pedroia.
But then, the injuries struck, and Hernandez was forced to rehab. He played well at Pawtucket this year, hitting .303 with two homers in 21 games, but he wasn't necessarily expecting to be called up.
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“I wasn’t expecting it, but I was ready,” Hernandez said, per Abraham. “I had worked hard for this.”
Hernandez's hard work showed. He had two doubles and two RBIs across five at-bats in the day/night doubleheader before earning a start on Sunday. If he can continue to play well, he may emerge as a quality option in the second base platoon that the Red Sox have been using this season. Either way, it's nice to see him make it back to the majors after being sidelined for so long.
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