2019 Phillies in Review: Cesar Hernandez

The Numbers

.279/.333/.408, 14 HR, 71 RBI, 9 SB, 1.7 fWAR

The Good

Hernandez set career-highs in at bats (612), hits (171), doubles (31), RBIs (71) and total bases (250). He led the team in hits and games played (161).

While he did go through stretches of games where he wasn’t at his best, especially defensively, overall his season was pretty consistent. The Phillies would have liked him to be consistently better, but that could be said for almost everyone within the entire organization sans J.T. Realmuto.

The Bad

The Phillies entered the 2019 season expecting to platoon Hernandez and Scott Kingery at second base. But with multiple key injuries and inconsistencies elsewhere on the field, Kingery was instead used as a super utility player, leaving Hernandez as the every-day starter at second.

The thing that makes this bad is that we still don’t know what kind of full-time second baseman Kingery is/can be. That complicates things going into next season, as Hernandez is arbitration-eligible and will be looking for a big payday. With the expectation that the Phillies are going to spend most of their money in the starting pitching market, there may not be enough to pay Hernandez as well.

The Future

Hernandez was nontendered. He’ll move on to a new organization.