Teoscar

Hernández

It’s the best-case scenario for the Dodgers and fantasy managers as Hernández is likely to only miss a couple weeks. Los Angeles opted to bring up Ryan Ward, who is finally getting a real opportunity at the highest level after years at Triple-A, as a short-term stopgap. It sounds like they considered bringing up red-hot prospect James Tibbs III, but he’s been dealing with a forearm issues that has limited him to DH exclusively of late. His opportunity figures to come later this summer.

Hernández is expected to miss about a month. Ryan Ward and Alex Call figure to platoon in left field for now. Depending on how that goes, James Tibbs III could be an alternative later.

Tibbs took Astros elite closer Josh Hader deep to cap off his third multi-homer performance of the season. The 23-year-old slugging outfield prospect won’t be receiving the call to replace an injured Teoscar Hernández (hamstring) with the Dodgers turning to Ryan Ward instead as a temporary stopgap. However, he’s certainly shown enough to be under consideration as a mid-to-late season call-up as a platoon specialist.

Hernández left last night’s game with a left hamstring strain and figures to miss multiple weeks. The 33-year-old corner outfielder had produced an .892 OPS in a resurgent May. Alex Call would figure to get more playing time going forward if Hernández’s injury doesn’t force the Dodgers into thinking about some of their better prospects, like James TIbbs III, who has a 1.028 OPS in Triple-A Oklahoma City with 12 home runs.

It seems like a possibility that Hernández will require a trip to the injured list, depending on the severity. The 33-year-old veteran slugger suffered the injury while attempting to beat out attempting to beat out a second-inning grounder. He was replaced in left field by Hyeseong Kim. There should be some additional clarity on his status prior to Friday’s series opener against the Phillies. There’s no shortage of options for the Dodgers in the upper minors with Ryan Ward and Alek Thomas representing in-house options already on the 40-man roster while prospect James Tibbs III might be a consideration as a potential solution. Tommy Edman (ankle) is at least another week or two away from returning from the injured list.

This was a tight one until the eighth. The Dodgers scored three that inning and four more in the ninth to turn into a laugher. Hernández’s homer gave the Dodgers a 4-3 lead in the fourth, and he singled in one in the eighth and two in the ninth. It’s the fourth time he’s collected six RBI in a game, though the first time he hasn’t needed two homers to get there. He’s 15-for-37 with three homers and 14 RBI in his last 10 games.

Teoscar Hernández is at DH with Alex Call taking over in left field. Ohtani had been scuffling at the plate, hitting .200/.321/.300 with one home run over his previous 26 games before going deep off Giants starter Adrian Houser during Tuesday’s contest. The Dodgers are making a concerted effort to reduce the 31-year-old two-way sensation’s workload to keep him fresher at the plate moving forward. He’ll get a full day off Thursday before returning for Friday’s series opener against the Angels.

Hernández has been dropped to the lower-third of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts’ lineup card for the second time in three games after hitting .192 (10-for-52) with zero homers over his last 15 games. The more alarming development is that he hasn’t gone deep since April 15 and has just four round-trippers in 35 games overall. It’s worth noting that the Dodgers have plenty of prospects waiting in the wings for their shot at the highest level should Hernández continue struggling into the summer.

Dodgers’ skipper Dave Roberts noted that it’s a planned day off for Hernández and that he could get a few more days off going forward as the 33-year-old slugger works his way out of an early-season slump. Alex Call will start in his place in left field and will bat sixth against Braves’ right-hander Bryce Elder.

Hernández hit .310 with four homers in his first 16 games, but he’s at .169 with no homers in 16 games since. His bat speed is down a little for the second year in a row, and he’s striking out more than usual. Hitting in the middle of an excellent lineup will keep him relevant for fantasy purposes, but it doesn’t look like the Hernández of 2024 is about to reemerge.