Blue Jays need to end the Teoscar Hernandez experiment

The time has finally come for the Toronto Blue Jays to cut ties and end the experiment with outfielder Teoscar Hernandez once and for all.

The Blue Jays are rebuilding and essentially holding auditions for next season and beyond as the brain trust debates who will become a fixture on the field when the team becomes a contender.

One thing is for certain, if the Blue Jays are going to ever contend in the American League East, it will not happen with Teoscar Hernandez patrolling the outfield. Hernandez continuously takes bad routes to balls and costs his team almost daily with shoddy defence.

Hernandez sports a -5 Defensive Runs Saved rating which is actually improved from the -16 he logged last season as well as a negative Ultimate Zone Rating. At this stage of the season, the Blue Jays would be better suited to sit Hernandez in favor of either Anthony Alford or Jonathan Davis.

Unfortunately, neither Alford, Davis, Derek Fisher or Billy McKinney appear to be a longterm answer in the Blue Jays outfield. Expect Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Randal Grichuk there next season but after that, it’s anyone’s guess.

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To make matters worse, the outfielder fails to make adjustments at the plate striking out at an Adam Dunn like pace. Hernandez has whiffed 136 times in 111 games which is good for 27th place in the majors with 200 fewer at-bats than most guys on the K-list. Since the beginning of August, the 26-year old has struck out 46 times in 95 at-bats.

In his defence, the outfielder does have 21 home runs, hitting the 20+ homer plateau for the second straight season. He is one big fly away from tying his career-high of 22 from 2018. So it’s not all doom and gloom but the slugger needs to add more consistency to his game.

Hernandez was already demoted once this season and appears on the fast track back to the minors at his current pace. It seems far fetched to believe that Hernandez is in the team’s plans moving forward.