SEATTLE — When the Mariners last saw Teoscar Hernández in a game, he was doing something that his new club hopes to see an awful lot of this season.
You remember that wild Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series, right? The one where the Mariners erased a seven-run deficit for an improbable 10-9 victory over the Blue Jays?
Hernández, dealt from Toronto to Seattle in November, had a two-run home run in the second inning and a solo shot in the fourth inning as the Blue Jays looked like they were going to push the series to a third game.
Instead, the Mariners hushed the Rogers Centre crowd with a comeback for the ages, in what will go down as one of the best — and certainly the most memorable — games in franchise history.
If you can’t beat ’em, right?
The Mariners are surely hoping Hernández — who has hit 57 home runs the past two seasons — can continue his power display in Seattle this season.
Advertisement
“I’m excited we don’t have to pitch to him anymore,” Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh said of Hernández last week.
After Hernández was acquired from the Blue Jays, Mariners general manager Justin Hollander said that the team “needed to get more dangerous offensively.” Hernández seems to fit the bill.
Hernández, who turned 30 in October, has averaged 24 home runs over the past five seasons. The Steamer projections for 2023 have Hernández hitting 30 home runs with a 121 wRC+ and a 2.3 WAR. That should help an offense that was shut out 12 times in 2022.
Teoscar Hernandez – Toronto Blue Jays (1)* pic.twitter.com/iYVsVtg0bw
— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) October 8, 2022
“With Teo, what you’re looking at is a true middle-of-the-order bat … a true damage-doer,” Hollander said. “And while you solely don’t want to live and die with the homer, hitting a homer is good and he does a lot of that.
“We think the addition of Teo really, really helps balance out the group that we ended the year with last season.”
Hernández, who will play right field, is entering the final year of his contract. It’s unclear if the extension-happy Mariners — who inked shortstop J.P. Crawford, outfielder Julio Rodríguez and pitcher Luis Castillo to extensions in the past 10 months — will look to keep him around beyond the 2023 season.
We do know this, though: Hernández will play half of his games at T-Mobile Park which, while it remains a pitcher-friendly ballpark, is one that Hernández is comfortable hitting in. For his career, Hernández has batted .357 in 16 games in Seattle with three homers and seven doubles.
“I think it’s because I love this stadium so much,” Hernández said last week, smiling. “Since I was in Houston (2016-17), I love to be in here, play here. There isn’t any reason in particular, but I think it’s because I love playing here.”
Advertisement
Hernández said last week that he’s excited to play alongside Rodríguez, the reigning American League Rookie of the Year, who also is from the Dominican Republic. The two have worked out and spent time together this offseason.
“I’m trying to get a good relationship (with him) … he’s eight years younger than me,” he said. “I’m trying to learn from him and I’m trying to teach everything I know.”
(Photo of Hernández: Joshua Bessex / Icon Sportswire)