The Marlins Have Found Yet Another Rookie Standout
Heriberto Hernandez has become a key cog for a Marlins team that has been one of the best in baseball since June.
Please, stop me if you have heard this before: Peter Bendix has uncovered another gem, seemingly out of nowhere.
At this point, we just have to assume that Bendix is able to spawn productive major league-caliber players out of thin air. If Heriberto Hernandez is not the latest example of that, then I do not know what else Bendix has to do to prove to you that he, and the rest of the team he has assembled in the Miami Marlins front office, have a good eye for evaluating talent.
Who Is Heriberto Hernandez?
Do not feel bad if you had not heard of Hernandez before clicking on this article. To be fair, you would likely be in the majority.
The Marlins were able to sign Hernandez as a free agent this winter after the Tampa Bay Rays released him. This came off a season in the Rays’ minor league system in which he had an .839 OPS and mashed 23 home runs in 104 games across two levels.
Heriberto Hernandez was signed by the Texas Rangers via international free agency in 2017 and later made his way to Tampa in the trade that sent Nathaniel Lowe to the Rangers. That is likely where Bendix first got to know him, as he served as the Rays’ vice president of baseball development at the time.
Now, after being the third Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp to have his contract selected by the Marlins in the span of six days back at the end of May, Hernandez has become a key cog in what has been one of the best teams in baseball since June.
Is Hernandez a Legitimate Long-Term Option for the Marlins?
We have seen plenty of “flashes in the pan” make their rounds in the majors over the years. At first, Hernandez’s hot start was likely thought to just be that: a first-time major leaguer, making his debut at 25 years old, riding the highs of reaching the pinnacle of all baseball players’ dreams.
As of August 10, Hernandez is slashing .310/.367/.524 with seven home runs and a 146 wRC+. He has already accumulated 1.1 fWAR in just 45 games played. Just when you think he is going to start to flatten out, he hits another clutch home run to tie the game, or put the Marlins on top.
While his strikeout numbers have always been a concern, and he is still striking out quite a bit, the rest of his data shows that this level of performance may be sustainable going forward.
Rocking a .344 xwOBA, Hernandez is also sporting a 47.7% HardHit% and barreling up baseballs at an 11.4% clip. He is also limiting his overall chase rate to 21.7%, which, if he qualified, would rank in the 91st percentile in the major leagues. Even with a higher strikeout rate near 30%, he seems to have a good knowledge of the strike zone. His average bat speed is also a full 2.0 mph faster than the MLB average.
The one main susceptibility in Hernandez’s profile is that he has become quite pull-happy in his short time in Miami so far.
As you can see from the spray chart above, more than two-thirds of his hits have been pulled. His ability to capitalize on mistakes early is what has contributed to much of his success so far. On average, he is seeing around 3.53 pitches per plate appearance, which is around half a pitch fewer than the MLB average, which sits at 4.1 as of August 10th.
All that being said, his bat is not the only thing that has been keeping Hernandez in the lineup consistently. His play in the outfield has been anything but subpar, leading to 2 Outs Above Average in 181 innings played so far.
Where Does Hernandez Stand on the Marlins’ Roster?
I think we can all agree that baseball fans missed the mark when it came to overlooking the selected contract of a 25-year-old outfielder who, at the time, was joining one of the bottom-feeding teams in baseball.
As it stands right now, the Marlins have quite a few outfielders they can pencil in to their 2026 Opening Day roster when the time comes.
Aside from the obvious – All-Star Kyle Stowers – the Marlins can piece together the final two spots with any combination of Griffin Conine, Jakob Marsee, and Dane Myers. In addition, the trade of former Fish Jesús Sánchez has opened up more opportunities for Hernandez to crack the everyday lineup.
Should the Marlins decide that this audition for Hernandez is enough to convince them to keep him around next year, you would have to assume that he would enter spring training solidly in the conversation for one of the starting spots in the outfield, or even the designated hitter spot, should the Marlins want to continue giving Agustín Ramírez the majority of reps behind the plate.
Hernandez has earned heavy praise from Marlins manager Clayton McCullough. In an interview back on June 11th, right when the Marlins turned their season around, McCullough said, “I think Bert has really taken some aggressive swings. He’s looked under control with balance in the box. I think he’s swinging at pitches that he’s wanting to fire at, and right now, he’s not only putting some good swings together, [but] he’s finding a lot of grass.”
Praise like that from a player’s manager so early into his big league career is not something that we should take lightly.
The impression that Heriberto Hernandez has left on not just Marlins fans but everyone tuning in to watch the fun, winning baseball that the Marlins are playing is a strong one. Even if a Marlins jersey is not in the card for Hernandez in 2026, what he has been able to do to this point will surely warrant another organization giving him a chance to make their roster come the 2026 season.
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