Philadelphia Phillies: The Phillies could really use Cesar Hernandez

With Kingery and Segura sputtering out of the gate, the Philadelphia Phillies may be second guessing their decision to move on from Cesar Hernandez.

I have always been a big supporter of Cesar Hernandez, but even I am shocked at how much the Philadelphia Phillies could use him right now.

Through the first 10 games of the season, Scott Kingery and Jean Segura have offered virtually nothing to the Phillies offense. Combined, the double play tandem is currently batting .133 with 2 runs batted in and a WAR of -0.9. You don’t have to be a baseball nerd to understand that is horrifically bad.

On the other hand, Cesar Hernandez has gotten off to a great start in his stint with the Cleveland Indians. He has slashed .305/.414/.804 and has produced a WAR of 0.8 through his first 16 games.

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When the Phillies non-tendered Hernandez this past winter, the idea was that moving Kingery back to his ideal position at second base would allow him to become the player the team believes he can be. The organization clearly values Kingery rather highly, as they did sign him to an unprecedented 6 year $24 million contract before he had even appeared in the big league game.

As many people know, Kingery’s rookie year was a train wreck. After being rewarded with that extension, he proceeded to slash .226/.267/.605 with 8 home runs and 35 runs batted in across 147 appearances. Even with being a natural second basemen, one thing he did prove in 2018 was that he could play multiple defensive positions at an above average clip.

Ultimately, he did bounce back and had a pretty strong 2019 campaign for the Phillies. Across 126 games, Kingery slashed .258/.315/.788 with 19 home runs and 55 runs batted in. The biggest difference in his game was the ability to drive the baseball, which was virtually nonexistent his rookie season. Kingery slugged 57 extra base hits in 2019, and the expectations were he would take another step forward this season.

Since his debut, we have seen Kingery play 2nd base, 3rd base, shortstop, centerfield, left field, and even a few appearances in a mop up role out of the bullpen. Yes, that actually happened.

Jean Segura on the other hand saw his debut season in red pinstripes have some incredible peaks and valleys. Through his first 46 games last season, Segura slashed .307/.355/.826 with 5 long balls and 23 runs batted in. Essentially, he was playing exactly how the Philadelphia Phillies envisioned he would when they traded J.P Crawford and Carlos Santana to acquire him from Seattle.

After failing to run out a pop up in San Diego, which saw Andrew McCutchen get caught in a run down and tear his ACL only to be lost for the season, the bottom fell out for Segura. Over his final 98 games, Jean slashed .266/.307/.702 with 7 homers and 37 runs batted in; a significant fall from grace. I do believe the McCutchen situation weighed significantly on the Phillies shortstop, and likely played a large factor in his drop in production.

With that said, much was made this past off season about Segura taking better care of his body and entering spring training in “the best shape of his life.” Shifting to 3rd base, big things were expected of Jean; especially considering he is still on the hook for $29.7 million over the next 2 seasons. If the first 10 games of this season are any indication, this could be a serious problem for the Philadelphia Phillies.

In regards to Hernandez, he always seemed like an incredibly under appreciated Phillie. It seemed like fans either liked the guy or couldn’t stand him. This never made much sense to me as I always was fond of the second basemen. While never a star, he consistently was a productive offensive player and would be a great option to leadoff for this Phillies team.

Once he established himself as an everyday player in red pinstripes back in 2015, Hernandez slashed .278/.355/.743 across 5 seasons while averaging 9 home runs and 48 runs batted in as the Phillies primary leadoff man. He had also produced a WAR of 10.5 over that time, which averaged out at 2.1 per season. For those who aren’t familiar with the WAR scale, anything above 2 is considered a starting caliber player.

At 30 years old, you can make the argument the Philadelphia Phillies made the right call moving on from Hernandez. But with the way things are going now, it makes you wonder if they wish they could have a do over.