It was a deal York manager Andy Etchebarren wanted to make in the midst of a tough stretch last season. Etchebarren wanted to acquire Somerset outfielder Michael Hernandez (above right, photo courtesy of Somerset Patriots). Etchebarren offered a couple different players, but the two teams never worked out a deal.
So when Etchebarren had a chance to work out a deal to acquire the rights to Hernandez in the offseason, the Revs coaching staff made it happen. The Revs had to send a player to Somerset in order to finalize the move, but the Pats agreed to let Hernandez walk.
It has proved to be one of York’s biggest offseason moves.
Hernandez has only added to his gaudy power numbers at Sovereign Bank Stadium. Through his first 29 games at York’s ballpark, he has hit 12 homers. Add in two more exhibition games — including last year’s Atlantic League All-Star Game — and he has homered 14 times in his first 31 games in York.
To put those numbers in perspective, former Revs outfielder Matt Esquivel holds the record with 21 homers hit at Sovereign Bank Stadium. He accomplished that feat by playing in a combined 149 regular and postseason games at The Vault. He played two full seasons with the Revs before moving on to Long Island. Right now, Hernandez needs nine more homers to match Esquivel’s total, and Hernandez has the potential to play in at least 61 more games in York this year.
“He can’t explain it, I asked him about it,” Etchebarren said Saturday in trying to answer why Hernandez plays well in York. “He said, ‘I don’t know, I just see the ball well here.’ He showed me he sees it well here the last two years when he played against us.”
A onetime Mets and Tigers prospect, Hernandez has been in the league since he signed with the Newark Bears in 2009. A .293 hitter (279-for-951) in 280 Atlantic League games (all stats compiled before Tuesday’s game), he spent the last two seasons with the Patriots.
Etchebarren expected Hernandez to be a No. 7 hitter in what was expected to be a loaded lineup. But those preseason expectations never panned out as Hernandez proved to be one of the few Revs hitters who started the season on a hot streak. Moved to the middle of the order, he’s carried York for stretches.
“When you’re not winning,” Revs first baseman Chris Nowak said earlier this month, “the tempers get a little tighter. And guys get a little more on edge. … We know we have a good team here, good arms and a good lineup. Hopefully one of us gets on a roll and it just builds and builds. And I feel like Michael Hernandez has started to swing the bat well, and I believe guys are feeding off of it.”
Hernandez hit two homers during York’s three-game sweep of his former club, helping York assemble its first winning streak of the season. He entered Tuesday’s game in Southern Maryland with a league-leading six homers in just 16 games (64 at-bats). Hernandez hit a career-high 24 homers during a 2007 season split between High-A and Double-A.
He hasn’t put up league-leading stats in homers during his previous three seasons spent in the league.
2009: 11 homers
2010: 15
2011: 9
2012: 6 and counting
But he also hasn’t been playing half of his games in York.
“I didn’t expect this,” Etchebarren said. “I didn’t expect six home runs in the first 15 games. He’s not a home run hitter. He’s a gap hitter. But for some reason, he always hits well in this park.”
And he just might be a reason why York can overcome a 3-10 start.