AKS

Heriberto Hernandez, OF

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Scouting report

Even though the Rays have seemingly made a concerted effort to acquire catching depth this offseason and Hernandez caught during his early pro career, I think it's likely they put him to an outfield corner or at first base and just let him hit and climb the minor league ladder as fast as his bat will take him. And that could be a very fast climb. Hernandez was perhaps the most dominant lower-level hitter in 2019, slashing .344/.433/.646 during the AZL regular season before going on an Arozarena-esque tear in the AZL and then Northwest League postseasons after he was promoted for the last week of Spokane's season. He slugged over .900 during his final few weeks in the org. The Rangers invited Hernandez to their alternate site in mid-September and he tuned up against advanced pitching there before getting most of his 2020 run at Fall Instructional League. Then the Rangers traded him as part of a deal centered around Nate Lowe early in the offseason. Heuristically, this is not the sort of prospect I like. Heriberto is a positionless righty hitter (and thus is often at a platoon disadvantage) far from the big leagues. But his on-paper stats, underlying TrackMan data, and my multi-year in-person visual evaluation give me a high degree of confidence that this might be a very special hitter whose hit and power combination will clear the high offensive bar in left field or first base. His little T-Rex arms enable Heriberto to be short to the baseball, but he's so strong and rotates with such ferocity that he still hits for power. I've seen him make mid-at-bat adjustments to quality offspeed stuff, swinging over a particularly good splitter only to recognize the next one, located in the same spot, and rope it into the left field corner for a double. He covers the whole plate (something that's gotten better since my first looks in 2018) but is tough to beat on the inner half because his levers are so short. Because he isn't an up-the-middle player, Hernandez is not the type of prospect with an elite-level WAR ceiling, but he has the talent to anchor the middle of an order as a hit/power combo bat. (Rangers alternate site and Fall Instructional League)