Blue Jays: Teoscar Hernandez on fringe of possible demotion

Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Teoscar Hernandez is hitting below the Mendoza Line and in jeopardy of a reunion tour in Buffalo if his play does not improve in short order.

Teoscar Hernandez is a bat first outfielder who provides virtually no upside on defence. When Hernandez is pummeling balls out of stadiums than his defensive indiscretions are easily overlooked. Surprisingly he has a positive UZR rating and DRS total while making three errors coupled with 61 putouts thus far.

The issue becomes a glaring concern when Hernandez is hitting .195/.264/.292 with a pair of round-trippers in the first 34 games of the season. The 26-year old has dropped to eighth in the Blue Jays batting order and has only six extra-base hits while fanning 35 times in 113 at-bats.

Hernandez is batting is .122 over his last 15 games and it feels like he hasn’t barrelled up a ball in over a month. The outfielder has two minor league options remaining so the Jays would not have to expose him to waivers to get him to Buffalo.

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If he does not right the ship sooner than later, the Blue Jays may opt to make a switch on the roster especially with the likes of Cavan Biggio and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. taking reps in the outfield with the Bisons.

Aside from both Biggio and Gurriel Jr. who are raking with the stick, the Jays also have Jonathan Davis batting .316/.490/.632 with three homers and four stolen bases in 13 games with the herd. The speedy outfielder played 20 games with the big club last season hitting .200 in his cup of coffee in the majors. The Jays opted to keep Davis on the 40-man roster over Dwight Smith Jr. during spring training, so they obviously value his skill set to some degree.

Hernandez appears to be a shell of his former 22-homer self this season and perhaps a demotion may allow for the outfielder to get back the basic and hit the reset button on his season. However, the Jays need to first terminate the Socrates Brito experiment before concerning themselves with Hernandez.