Infielder Darell Hernaiz will open the season in the majors, Oakland manager Mark Kotsay told reporters (including Jason Burke of Inside The A’s) this evening. Hernaiz was selected to the club’s 40-man roster back in November ahead of last year’s Rule 5 Draft, and his first appearance with the club this year will be his major league debut.
Hernaiz, 22, was a fifth-round pick by the Orioles in the 2019 draft and was swapped to the A’s in the deal that sent left-hander Cole Irvin to Baltimore last January. The youngster enjoyed something of a breakout campaign during his first season in Oakland last year as he slashed .321/.386/.456 in 131 games split between the Double- and Triple-A levels. Hernaiz offered little in the way of power as he hit just nine home runs last year, but the youngster showed impressive on-base skills with a fantastic 13.4% strikeout rate against a solid 8.9% walk rate. Hernaiz also has plus speed, as shown by his 54-for-64 record on the basepaths with the Orioles during the 2021 and 2022 seasons, though he swiped just 13 bags in 18 attempts with the A’s last year.
After splitting time between shortstop as well as second and third base during his time with the Orioles, Hernaiz has played shortstop almost exclusively with the A’s. In 2023, he made 13 appearances at the keystone and just one at the hot corner compared to a whopping 112 at shortstop. That changed this spring, however, as Hernaiz split time between his native shortstop and third base in hopes of improving his odds of making the big league roster due to the club’s vacancy out the hot corner. While the acquisition of veteran infielder J.D. Davis has plugged the gap at third in Oakland for the time being, the mid-spring addition didn’t stop the A’s from offering Hernaiz a spot on the big league roster to open the season after he hit a decent .313/.340/.333 during camp while striking out just 16.9% of the time across 53 spring at-bats.
Looking ahead to the regular season, Hernaiz figures to provide the A’s with a quality glove all around the infield off the bench, providing insurance behind Davis, shortstop Nick Allen, and second baseman Zack Gelof. The youngster’s high contract rates, solid plate discipline, and plus speed also figure to make him a useful bench piece who can be deployed as a pinch hitter and runner. Should injuries or ineffectiveness force a change in the club’s infield mix at some point in the season, Hernaiz figures to compete with fellow reserve infielder Abraham Toro for those reps, though it’s always possible a mid-season promotion for a prospect such as Jordan Diaz could change that calculus.
Hernaiz should be a rock solid super utility guy. Glad he’s getting a shot in Oakland. Was beyond buried in Baltimore.
Agreed. Some people will look at this and lament the Orioles for trading him away for Irvin but Hernaiz was just never going to get that opportunity with the O’s like he will with the A’s.
I’d have to imagine there are other teams where Hernaiz wouldn’t make the big league roster this year either. The A’s are uniquely positioned to be more on the “let the kids play” track.
Yeah I mean we probably could’ve gotten something more useful than Irvin had we held a little longer but Irvin is more useful to us than Hernaiz.
Simply have too many middle infielders and Hernaiz wasn’t better than them.
Soon everyone will stop drafting middle infielders and just trade for them from Baltimore.
Sounds like the Marlins and corner outfielders
Or outfielders from the cardinals who will become all stars and playoff series MVP’s
@sorego
Apparently, the Padres didn’t get that memo.
Is it possible to field an entire starting lineup of players that have played professionally as a shortstop?
Only if there’s a catcher out there with shortstop experience. Otherwise, yeah, it’s wild that the Padres featured an Opening Day lineup with seven players who’ve played at least 60 games at shortstop. The other non-catcher was Jackson Merrill—a top shortstop prospect making his MLB debut.
Hernaiz to the show. Great scouting by the A’s.
Prieto next. Great scouting by the Cardinals.
Yes, agreed, whomever over sees evaluation of talent for Orioles is due a promotion.
The As don’t walk around funny because they’re a bunch of stiffs, they walk around funny because they have Herniaz.
@Theo as far as Dad jokes go, that was pretty good.
Who’s your daddy?
Welcome to the Show, young man!
Yes! Now give him the starting SS job and have the same patience Semien was afforded when he first arrived in Oakland. Allen is terrible
Is Jordan Diaz actually a “prospect” tho?
A “decent” .313? What a dumb comment.
Maybe the “decent” is in reference to the whole line. The .333 SLG isn’t very good
He’s already better than Nick Allen