Darell Hernaiz will make Opening Day roster

Mark Kotsay told reporters today that Darell Hernaiz earned a spot on the Oakland A’s Opening Day roster.

The Puerto Rican shortstop is only 22 years old and will make his major league debut, presumably, sometime in the A’s first series against the Cleveland Guardians. It’s unclear if he’ll be in the starting lineup on Opening Day.

According to Jessica Kleinschmidt, Kotsay indicated that Hernaiz will have opportunities to play at both his natural shortstop position where he’ll compete with Nick Allen for playing time, as well as third base where J.D. Davis will likely get the bulk of the starts. He’s considered at least passable at both spots but it’s an aspect of his game that he’s constantly improving.

Last season, Hernaiz split his time between AA and AAA, showing off his elite contact skills at both spots.

AA: .338/.393/.486, 133 wRC+, 5 HRs, 8.4% BB%, 15.6% K%

AAA: .300/.376/.418, 97 wRC+, 4 HRs, 9.5% BB%, 10.7% K%

As you can see, he was hitting everything at Midland but in the extremely hitter-friendly confines of Las Vegas, his .300 average and minimal power barely registered as league average. On the bright side, both his walk and strikeout rates improved after his promotion.

His .313/.340/.333 Spring Training line suggests much of the same. He’ll probably have no problem putting balls in play, but the question will be whether or not he can drive the ball enough to become the starting-caliber player the A’s are envisioning. His profile’s fairly similar to fellow A’s youngster Jordan Diaz, though he doesn’t rely on contact quite as much and isn’t a burden at defense the way Diaz is. He also has some untapped raw power in his game that still hasn’t manifested consistently in games, but he’s young enough that it still can become a big part of his future.

Oakland acquired Hernaiz from the Baltimore Oriole in a minor 2023 offseason trade, shipping out workhorse starter Cole Irvin and pitching prospect Kyle Virbitsky to the Balitimore Orioles. At the time, A’s fans were thrown off guard as Irvin was the de facto staff leader and the team’s most consistent starter, while Hernaiz was a little known prospect buried deep down in the Orioles’ depth chart, blocked by the likes of Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday, and others. Sending Irvin away for a middling prospect and relying almost exclusively on rookie pitchers was a troubling thought.

Fortunately, Hernaiz turned out to be a steal who blossomed into an even better prospect after joining the A’s organization. MLB Pipeline ranked him 18th in the A’s system when he was first acquired. Now, he’s soared up to 5th in the system, 3rd on Keith Law’s list, and even made a cameo at No. 90 on ZiPS stats-driven, league-wide rankings. Though the trade paved the way for the A’s to 112 games, it turned out to be a rare win in the David Forst era.