{"id":691380,"date":"2026-05-24T21:41:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T21:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/691380\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T21:41:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T21:41:26","slug":"dodgers-expect-kike-hernandez-to-make-season-debut-monday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/691380\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers expect Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez to make season debut Monday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">MILWAUKEE &#8212; <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/team\/_\/name\/lad\/los-angeles-dodgers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> utilityman<a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/31358\/enrique-hernandez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kik\u00e9 Hernandez<\/a>is expected to be activated in time to make his season debut Monday after recovering from surgery on his left elbow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Sunday that Hern\u00e1ndez should be available for the start of their home series against the <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/team\/_\/name\/col\/colorado-rockies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Colorado Rockies<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;There&#8217;s a different energy with Kik\u00e9,&#8221; Roberts said Sunday. &#8220;There&#8217;s a levity. There&#8217;s an intensity. There&#8217;s a good worker in there, a winning player. So I&#8217;m looking forward to having that edge.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Hern\u00e1ndez, 34, signed a one-year, $4.5 million contract in February that kept him with the Dodgers. He underwent surgery last fall that kept him from playing for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic and delayed the start of his 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">He hit .214 with a .298 on-base percentage with three RBIs in 12 games while on a rehabilitation assignment with Oklahoma City. He batted .203 with a .255 on-base percentage, 10 homers and 35 RBIs in 92 games with Los Angeles last season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Hern\u00e1ndez often has done his best work in October while helping the Dodgers win World Series in 2020, 2024 and 2025. He has batted .272 with an .826 OPS, 16 homers and 42 RBIs in 103 postseason games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">His return comes while Dodgers third baseman <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/33303\/max-muncy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Max Muncy<\/a> recovers after a 95.5 mph sinker from Milwaukee&#8217;s <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/41325\/aaron-ashby\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Aaron Ashby<\/a> hit him in the right wrist on Friday. X-rays were negative and the Dodgers <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/48848700\/dodgers-hopeful-muncy-avoided-major-injury-hit-pitch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">expressed optimism<\/a> that Muncy avoided a major injury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;We were resolved to not having him available this weekend,&#8221; Roberts said. &#8220;My expectation is that he&#8217;s getting a little bit better today and maybe swing a bat tomorrow to see. I don&#8217;t expect him in the lineup tomorrow either.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">Muncy is batting .258 with a .363 on-base percentage, .515 slugging percentage, 12 homers and 19 RBIs in 48 games.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILWAUKEE &#8212; Los Angeles Dodgers utilitymanKik\u00e9 Hernandezis expected to be activated in time to make his season debut&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[252703,49,48,1161,252702,487,462,44,82],"class_list":["post-691380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-252703","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-espn","tag-hernandez-enrique","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-mlb","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}