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DiPuglia admitted some unpredictability in Hernandez’s path with the Nationals, given that he has not played a game since the middle of the 2015 season when he left the Cuban national team during a tournament in North Carolina. In his last full season there, Hernandez hit .369 with a .509 on-base percentage.“He’s not your high-profile Cuban player, but he’s a legit left-handed hitter who grinds at-bats,” DiPuglia said. “He’s not a big, physical guy, but he’s always put up good numbers, a really good on-base percentage in every league he’s played in. He’s got the ability to bunt, the ability to hit the ball the other way, move runners over, he can play all three outfield positions.”In other words, the 5-foot-10 Cuban is a solid professional player, a high-floor, low-ceiling type who won a Gold Glove in Cuba in the 2013-14 season and could serve as a left-handed hitter off the bench or a defensive replacement late. Baseball America rated him as the 16th-best player in Cuba last year.
But the left-handed hitter has excellent on-base ability. Indeed, he slashed .369/.509/.535 over 369 plate appearances in his most recent campaign in Cuba, walking 77 times — good for a 20.9% walk rate (which is higher than all currently qualifying MLB hitters, for some frame of reference). In its full scouting report (subscription required, and recommended), Baseball America likened his overall skill set to that of Red Sox outfielder Daniel Nava.
He's not on the 40 man, so we'd have to dump someone...though with this bunch, that shouldn't be hard to do...
With these 40, dumping one is just a formality. Stevenson, maybe?
I'm pulling for this guy (and see really hoping he's a hidden stud).
So you can formulate trades for him later?
Nationals organizational outfielder Yadiel Hernandez will be extended an invite to big league Spring Training in recognition of his excellent 2019 season in Triple-A, reports Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post. Dougherty adds that Hernandez will get at least a “small look” in camp, after a ’19 campaign in which the 32-year-old hit .323/.406/.604 with 33 home runs. It’s not exactly common to see 32-year-old rookies, but there does come a point where, juiced ball caveats aside, a player’s performance demands at least a trial run at the highest level. Plus, Hernandez did come over with a fair amount of recognition as an international signing out of Cuba in advance of the 2017 season. As things stand now, the champs will enter 2020 with Michael A. Taylor and Andrew Stevenson as bench outfielders