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Bochy: Hernandez “in the mix” for 2018 outfield spot

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LOS ANGELES – For the Giants, their season ended when they fell as far back as 35 games out of first place on August 1. However, contending or not, the season is not over until game No. 162 for the Giants and especially not for Gorkys Hernandez. Hoping to find stability for the first time in his career, Hernandez is working to prove himself as a qualified candidate for a starting role in the outfield next season.

“The season isn’t over yet, we still have nine more games,” Hernandez said. “Every time, if I’m in the lineup, I’ll be there and keep working hard. Next year, I’m trying to be in the outfield starting, so that’s what I’m working on right now and we’ll see what happens in Spring Training.”

After the game he had on Saturday and the positives he showed the day before, Bruce Bochy is taking notice.

“He certainly has made a statement, you have to see that,” Bochy said. “I know in the early go, there were a lot of questions why he was here. He’s one of our better athletes. He can play anywhere in the outfield.”

Needless to say, the way Hernandez performed over the last two days was not the story of how he started. Through the first two months of the season, his batting average failed to break .200. It wasn’t until June 15 that he pumped his average to .202.

From there, his averaged peaked at .272 before fading once again towards a more realistic average for someone with his abilities. At the start of this last series with Los Angeles, he was back down to .251.

Yet, in two games against the Dodgers, Hernandez is forcing himself into the conversation for the 2018 outfield. Although he went 1-3 on Friday, Hernandez reached base on a bunt single and his aggressive base running allowed him to score the first run of the game.

He returned the next day with the same aggression, knocking a leadoff single against Hyun-Jin Ryu on Saturday and went on to finish the game 2-3 with a walk, stolen base and two runs scored.

Pair this revival at the plate with his impressive defensive ability that has remained consistent all year and Hernandez is quickly becoming the leading candidate for a starting outfield job.

“A kid like this who plays the defense he can and do some things with the bat,” Bochy said. “He’s in the mix.”

Back on September 16, Hernandez suffered a wrist injury that raised questions as to whether he would be healthy enough to finish the season. Although he says it “hurts a little bit”, clearly he’s battling through for the sake of his future in San Francisco.