Seattle Mariners outfielder Teoscar Hernandez has turned his season around at the same time as his team. He should be a significant key to the upcoming American League playoffs. With his impending free agency, his improved performance couldn’t have come at a better time.
.@TeoscarH extends his hitting streak to 16 games, setting a career-high and also the longest active streak in @MLB.
It’s the longest hitting streak by a @Mariners player since Mitch Haniger (17 G) in 2018.
— Mariners PR (@MarinersPR) September 7, 2023
Hernandez’s Free Agency Looms Over AL Playoffs
A Complete Turnaround
On July 1st, the Mariners were facing increasingly desperate circumstances. Coming off a season where they ended a 21-year playoff drought, Seattle sat 10 games back in the American League West at 39-42. Five games out of a wild card spot, the Mariners’ offense was spoiling a high-flying pitching staff. The lineup ranked 21st in WRC+ (94), and second in strikeout rate (25.7%). Hernandez was the poster child of the struggles, striking out 108 times in the season’s first three-plus months. His power allowed him to post a 105 WRC+, which was only 5 percent better than the league average. Hernandez was looking like a miscalculation from the trade market, coming over in November from the Toronto Blue Jays. With Hernandez’s free agency coming up, the trade looked like a sunk cost.
Since then, however, Hernandez has turned his season around. Cutting his strikeout percentage by more than five percent, Hernandez has hit nearly as many home runs (10) since July 1st as he did from Opening Day to June 30th (15). The performance has been good for a 126 WRC+. His turnaround has coincided directly with the Mariners’ run, which has seen the offense put up an identical WRC+ number since July 1st. In that time, Seattle made up the entirety of their standings deficit, moving into first place on August 26th.
Currently, following a few struggles in September, they sit a half game behind the Houston Astros in the AL West. Though they comfortably hold the second wild card spot, the Mariners are searching for their first division title since 2001. Hernandez’s turnaround came at the perfect time for the team to go on a run that vaulted them firmly into the upper tier of contenders in the American League.
The @Mariners are 41-19 (.683) over their last 60 games since July 1, best record in @MLB during that span.
— Mariners PR (@MarinersPR) September 8, 2023
Perfect Timing
Hernandez’s free agency is a storyline to watch down the stretch, as he plays this final month and into October as an extended audition. This year’s class of free agents is fairly weak. After Shohei Ohtani, the presumptive AL MVP and the best overall player in baseball, the market for offensive production is slightly disappointing. Cody Bellinger is going to be the best position player on the market following a commanding resurgence, but Hernandez has a chance to prove himself as the top right-handed option available. He has continued his strong performance into September, slashing .393/.419/.643 in 28 at-bats this month.
If he continues to be a threat in the Mariners lineup, providing protection for star Julio Rodriguez, Hernandez will earn a sizable payday this winter. And if the Mariners’ last 60 games are any indication, Hernandez might just be the piece Seattle needed to make a push for the division title and upend the AL playoffs completely.
Photo Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
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