June 14th, 2016 at 9:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka It’s a vivid memory – one that I’ll smile about until my final days. My mother, who passed over 25 years ago, would almost always bring home a bunch of bananas from the grocery store each week. And though most of them would get eaten by my dad, my two brothers, my sister or me long before they turned black, there was usually one or two that would not. As if mandated by law, my mom would always say “They’re perfect for making banana bread now,” yet in my lifetime I do not recall her even once making banana bread (and I absolutely love banana bread) – from those disgusting overripe black bananas which always ended up in the trash.
Fast forward 50+ years.
On December 11, 2014, the Dodgers acquired right-hander Chris Hatcher, left-hander Andrew Heaney (who they immediately flipped to the Angels for veteran second baseman Howie Kendrick), back-up catcher Austin Barnes and super utility infielder / outfielder Enrique “Kiké” Hernandez from the Miami Marlins in exchange for second baseman Dee Gordon, utility infielder Miguel Rojas (who had saved Clayton Kershaw’s no-hitter six months earlier) and veteran right-hander Dan Haren – along with cash.
Most Dodger fans were furious when Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi traded Dee Gordon … until he tested positive for PEDs earlier this season, that is. (Photo credit – Wilfredo Lee)
As the 2015 season played out, Hatcher ended with a 3-5 record and 3.69 ERA out of the Dodgers bullpen, Kendrick had a very impressive .295 batting average and Hernandez an even more impressive .307 batting average while Barnes spent nearly the entire season at Triple-A Oklahoma City. But in spite of these accomplishments, most agree that the Marlins won the trade. Not only did Gordon end up winning the 2015 NL batting title while stealing an MLB-leading 58 bases, Haren posted an 11-9 record with very respectable 3.60 ERA; this after he had said that he was going to retire but later decided to stay one more season. Rojas filled in nicely as a bench player hitting .282 in the 60 games in which he played.
As noted, (then) 23-year-old Kiké Hernandez had a great season in 2015. In addition to his .307 batting average, Hernandez finished the season with a .346 on-base percentage and a .490 slugging percentage for a very good .836 OPS. He also slugged seven home runs while collecting 22 RBIs and became a huge favorite among Dodger fans – especially when he created his off-the-wall ‘Rally Banana’ epidemic that took Dodger Stadium by storm. There were bananas everywhere throughout the stadium and countless fans clad in banana costumes. Within weeks the rally banana had replaced the bubble machine as the Dodgers unofficial mascot (?). It addition to being a fun and exciting time, it also put Kiké Hernandez on the proverbial map.
…and then came 2016.
Although it’s hard to argue that the entire Dodgers 25-man roster hasn’t been mired in a horrible slump through their first 65 games of the season (Corey Seager and Adrian Gonzalez notwithstanding), it is impossible to argue that Kiké Hernandez isn’t struggling the most. Granted, catchers A.J. Ellis and Yasmani Grandal have worse batting averages than Hernandez’s paltry .204 batting average at .195 and .187 respectively, but Hernandez has struck out twice in the past week with one out and the bases loaded in games that the Dodgers ended up losing by one run. A simple fly ball would have scored the tying run in either game but instead Hernandez struck out on five pitches on June 8 in the Dodgers 1-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies and on three pitches – including a swinging third strike on a pitch that was way off the plate – in Monday night’s 3-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
With the bases loaded and one out in the top of the eighth inning, Hernandez struck out on three pitches – including this third one that was a foot off the plate. (Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)
With Monday night’s loss the Dodgers are now six games behind the NL West division-leading San Francisco Giants. They are now closer to fourth place in the division than first place.
No longer are Hernandez’s antics funny. No longer are his posts on Twitter cleaver or cute. It’s time for the Dodgers to give Kiké a break and option him to Oklahoma City and call up Rob Segedin, who is hitting .303 with the OKC Dodgers – at least until Hernandez can reinvent himself.
The Rally Banana has turned black. It’s banana bread time for Kiké Hernandez.
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You could point to one Dodger, but I think there are a lot more on the roster to blame. Last night even AGon slipped below 275.
I disagree with you Joe (go figure). If it happens once, it might be just be a rough at-bat. But when it happens more than once in an identical situation, it’s a problem.
I assume that you watched Kike’s at-bat last night. If you did, I’m guessing (although this might be a reach) that you noticed that Kiké looked absolutely terrified at the plate. It honestly looked like he wanted to be ANYWHERE but there right then.
I even texted (is that a word?) a good friend of mine as Kiké stepped to the plate and asked him if he wanted to bet how Kiké’s at-bat was going to end. He wisely declined (damn it).
Absolutely spot on! I think Kike has tremendous talent, but he has been pretty much a disaster at the plate since his big day against Bumgarner on April 15. On the 18th I wrote a comment on the Dodgers site about my conversation with my grandson’s hitting instructor, a guy who played with Kike in the Astros organization. I was wearing a Dodgers sun visor which prompted the conversation about the team. I mentioned Kike’s big day against Bumgarner and the hitting instructor shook his head and said, “…probably the worst thing that could happen…” in that Kike would likely start trying to pull every pitch thrown his way for home runs. I thought to myself, no way — Kike hit really well last season and the Dodgers coaches would not allow that to happen for long. I think optioning him to OKC with the understanding that once he consistently demonstrates that he can and will use the whole field will get him a return ticket to LA is exactly what is needed. What about the switch hitting, fast utility player Zack Walters coming up in place of Kike? Walters plays all of the infield positions as well as LF (not sure about CF). Switching Segedin with Barnes (if Grandal is healthy) might be a nice bat off the bench.
that was a terrible at bat for him last night with bases loaded and one out! But then again, they’ve all been terrible
Agree. Kendrick has pretty much taken over the utility role and it’s hard to see Kike working his problems out sitting at the end of the bench with an occasional start or high-leverage AB. He needs to play regularly and the Dodgers need a bench player who can hit.
“Banana Bread time”
LOL! I almost choked on my Diet Coke! I love the analogy because it’s taking something that’s gone bad and turning it into a better product. A reinvention if you will. The Dodgers offense needs “reinvention.”
SCB is correct; Kiké isn’t using the field to his strengths… much like the ENTIRE Dodgers team! …with apologies to Corey Seager of course. Gonzo’s the closest to “being right,” but even he could use a tweak or two.
I was hoping Kike’ would specialize in one side of the infield or the other or perhaps platoon with Utley with the player doing the best getting most of the play. That didn’t happen and when Kendrick was signed, Kike’ became the lost Dodger.
Now that SVS is back and Thompson looking like he should play regularly,I think I would prefer bundling Kendrick with Grandal and see what prospects or relievers the Dodgers could get instead of sending Kike’ to OK.
I say that even though I have never been a Kike’ fan. But I have not been a Grandal fan either and I don’t like rentals, which Kendrick is/was.
On second thought, fine, send Kike’ to OK
Last year it seemed like Kike’ had a high BABIP and he excelled against lefties and not so much against righties.
With a short bench due to having to have so many relievers due to starters not lasting past the 5th, Kike’ had to be used even though he would predictably struggle against a right side pitcher with a good slider.
Kike’s best chance was to take pitches that looked like they were in the middle or away. He should have been looking for inside pitches because he had no chance on the low and away slider. That said, Garvey often looked worse against pitches that bounced in the dirt wide of the plate.
One of the weaknesses the Dodgers have is the number of starters that don’t last past the 4th inning. It has always seemed to me that the plan should not be to hope a 4.2 inning pitcher can go five innings and finish the game with three or four relievers.
Instead, I would pair two 4 inning pitchers. I would tell the first to not save yourself because you are not going to start the 5th regardless of how well you are doing and I would tell the other to warm up as if there were two 4 inning games being played and he was starting the second game.
I would pair Stripling with Bolsinger; De Leon with Urias.
Rotation: Kershaw, Maeda, Kazmir, Stripling/Bolsinger, De Leon/Urias
Bullpen: Jansen, Baez,Coleman, Blanton, Libortore or Hatcher, Howell
Now there’s something I never even considered, but why not – especially with the Dodgers brass hellbent on innings limits. This might actually be a viable game plan.
Bums, while this may solve the problem of the 4 inning pitcher, the real problem with the Dodgers is their lack of offense. With 13 pitchers, the team is down one bench player, and down of LH bat until Ethier returns. Sending Kike’ down and bringing up switch hitting Zach Walters gives LAD another LH bat, and Zach can play all over. With Kike’ in OKC, I just do not know who plays SS when Seager needs a break. It’s almost like you would need to bring back Culberson, but that does not solve the offense or LH bat.
If the Dodgers can score more runs, maybe the 5 IP can go to 6. But when you give up 3 in 4-5 innings, the offense has not shown they can come back from that, thus the need to pull the pitcher. With De Leon, Stripling, and Montas due to arrive (and Frias potentially), the FO can control the number of innings of Urias. They are not trying to control innings for Bolsinger, he just cannot get through the lineup a third time, making him a long reliever.