{"id":710541,"date":"2026-05-28T00:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T00:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/710541\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T00:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T00:03:14","slug":"kike-hernandez-diagnosed-with-significant-oblique-tear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/710541\/","title":{"rendered":"Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez Diagnosed With “Significant” Oblique Tear"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dodgers utilityman Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> sustained a \u201csignificant tear\u201d of his left oblique yesterday, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Dylan Hern\u00e1ndez of The California Post)<\/a>. Infielder\u00a0Alex Freeland<\/a> will be recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City to take his spot on the active roster.<\/p>\n

Roberts didn\u2019t specify a timeline on Hern\u00e1ndez, but it sounds like another extended absence is inevitable. Hern\u00e1ndez just returned from a season-opening injured list stint on Monday. He\u2019d undergone elbow surgery shortly after the World Series and needed the first couple months of the regular season to complete his rehab.<\/p>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez started the past two games at third base while\u00a0Max Muncy<\/a> was nursing right wrist soreness. (Roberts said Muncy will return to the lineup tonight against Colorado righty Tomoyuki Sugano<\/a>.) Hern\u00e1ndez hit an RBI double in his first at-bat of the season and drilled a two-run homer yesterday. He was 4-4 with three extra-base hits on the year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unlikely Hern\u00e1ndez would\u2019ve remained a huge offensive threat. He\u2019s a .232\/.282\/.392 hitter since the Dodgers reacquired him from the Red Sox at the 2023 deadline. Dodgers brass clearly loves Hern\u00e1ndez as a clubhouse presence, however, and he\u2019s a versatile defensive player. The Dodgers re-signed him to a $4.5MM free agent contract at the beginning of Spring Training.<\/p>\n

Frustrating as it surely is for Hern\u00e1ndez personally, it\u2019s also less than ideal for the team from a depth perspective. L.A. designated the out-of-options\u00a0Santiago Espinal<\/a> for assignment on Monday to open the active roster spot for Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s return. He\u2019ll need to be traded or waived this week and would likely become a free agent if he clears waivers. The Dodgers could try to re-sign him if it gets to that point, but all other teams will have an opportunity to add Espinal to their MLB rosters in the interim.<\/p>\n

Freeland and\u00a0Tyler Fitzgerald<\/a> are the remaining depth infielders on the 40-man roster. The switch-hitting Freeland was optioned on May 11. He\u2019s hitting .238 with a .360 on-base percentage since going back to Triple-A. Starting second baseman\u00a0Hyeseong Kim<\/a> has gone cold this month, batting .217 with a .273 OBP and only two extra-base hits in 20 MLB games. Roberts indicated that Freeland will get the majority of the second base playing time now that he\u2019s back up (via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic<\/a>). He\u2019ll presumably be in the starting lineup tonight.<\/p>\n

That\u2019ll likely be a 2-3 week arrangement.\u00a0Tommy Edman<\/a> has been out all season recovering from ankle surgery. He began a rehab assignment at OKC last night. Those can last up to 20 days for position players, and it\u2019s likely Edman will need the full window because he didn\u2019t have a Spring Training. That\u2019d put his return date in the second or third week of June barring any setbacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dodgers utilityman Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez sustained a \u201csignificant tear\u201d of his left oblique yesterday, manager Dave Roberts told reporters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":710542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[22432,5,1152,1393,4,880],"class_list":["post-710541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-alex-freeland","tag-baseball","tag-enrique-hernandez","tag-hyeseong-kim","tag-mlb","tag-tommy-edman"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116649276440612660","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=710541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}