Anderson Hernandez

ANDERSON HERNANDEZ
SECOND BASEMAN
Born: October 30, 1982
Height: 5’9″
Weight: 190
Bats: Both
Throws: Right
Signed: International Free Agent, 2001 (Tigers)
How Acquired: Minor League Free Agent
Country: Dominican Republic
Agent: Legacy Sports Group

WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES

Hernandez has made a career out of providing middle infield depth.  His sojourns in the majors have tended to result from the injuries or poor play of other players.  He’s had a very erratic history with the bat, with some terrible years and some reasonably good ones in the minors.  He has little power and has generally had a low walk rate and slightly high K rate, at least until 2011.  His opportunities in the major have been very limited, except in 2009, when he hit respectably.  He played shortstop coming up through the minors, but has played more second than short in the majors.  The defensive metrics consider him good at second and weak at short, although the sample sizes are very small.  He ran a lot earlier in his career, but may be slowing down as he hasn’t done it as much in recent seasons.  The Pirates signed him to a minor league deal for 2011.

2001
R:  264/303/389, 216 AB, 5 2B, 11 3B, 13 BB, 38 K, 34-42 SB
A+:  190/190/286, 21 AB, 1 3B, 8 K

Anderson debuted as a shortstop in the GCL and hit respectably while showing a great deal of speed.  He had a lot of trouble with errors, committing 21 in the GCL, for a .911 fielding percentage.

2002
A+:  259/310/339, 410 AB, 13 2B, 7 3B, 2 HR, 33 BB, 102 K, 16-30 SB

The Tigers moved Hernandez up to high A, a substantial jump at age 19.  He played short there all year and held his own with the bat, although he had some trouble making contact.

2003
A+:  229/278/295, 380 AB, 11 2B, 4 3B, 2 HR, 27 BB, 69 K, 15-22 SB

Hernandez spent another year playing short in high A and took a significant step backward.

2004
A+:  309/342/396, 139 AB, 6 2B, 3 3B, 8 BB, 31 K, 8-8 SB
AA:  274/326/376, 394 AB, 19 2B, 3 3B, 5 HR, 26 BB, 89 K, 17-23 SB

Hernandez returned to high A for a third season, but hit well and was promoted to AA.  He hit respectably there, but didn’t walk much.  The Tigers traded him to the Mets during the off-season.

2005
AA:  326/360/462, 273 AB, 14 2B, 1 3B, 7 HR, 14 BB, 58 K, 11-20 SB
AAA:  303/354/379, 261 AB, 6 2B, 4 3B, 2 HR, 22 BB, 46 K, 24-33 SB
MLB:  056/105/056, 18 AB, 1 BB, 4 K, 0-1 SB

Now with the Mets, Hernandez split his time between AA and AAA.  He hit over .300 at both levels and showed surprising power in AAA.  He started playing a little at second in AA and spent half his time there in AAA.  The Mets called him up in mid-September due to injuries.

2006
A+:  111/111/111, 9 AB, 1 K
AAA:  249/285/295, 414 AB, 11 2B, 4 3B, 21 BB, 70 K, 15-20 SB
MLB:  152/164/242, 66 AB, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 1 BB, 12 K

Hernandez opened the season with the Mets, but went out in mid-April with a bulging disk.  When he returned the Mets sent him to AAA, where he struggled to hit.  The Mets brought him to the majors for September.  He played second and short at both levels.

2007
AAA:  301/339/397, 554 AB, 28 2B, 5 3B, 5 HR, 31 BB, 82 K, 16-25 SB
MLB:  333/333/333, 3 AB, 1 K

Except for a brief callup, Hernandez spent the season in AAA, mostly playing short.  He rebounded with the bat.

2008
AAA (NYM):  203/262/307, 479 AB, 21 2B, 7 3B, 5 HR, 38 BB, 95 K, 11-19 SB
MLB (Wash):  333/407/383, 81 AB, 4 2B, 10 BB, 8 K

Hernandez again spent most of the year playing short in AAA.  The Mets traded him to the Nationals in mid-August, though, and he spent the rest of the season with the Nats.  He mainly played second, as the Nats had released their regular secondbaseman, Felipe Lopez.  Hernandez didn’t hit at all in AA, but hit well in the majors.

2009
AAA (Wash):  000/000/000, 4 AB
MLB (Wash):  251/310/320, 231 AB, 9 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 20 BB, 41 K, 5-8 SB
MLB (NYM):  252/315/370, 135 AB, 6 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 13 BB, 22 K, 2-4 SB

Hernandez spent the year in the majors.  He was slated to be a utility infielder for Washington, but ended up playing a lot at second due to Ronnie Belliard’s injuries and poor play.  In early August, the Mets traded for Hernandez to play short in place of the injured Jose Reyes and Alex Cora.

2010
AAA (Cleve):  234/280/275, 171 AB, 4 2B, 1 HR, 12 BB, 23 K, 2-6 SB
AAA (Hou):  241/267/276, 29 AB, 1 2B, 1 BB, 6 K, 2-2 SB
MLB (Cleve):  246/270/295, 61 AB, 3 2B, 2 BB, 9 K, 1-1 SB
MLB (Hou):  188/304/229, 48 AB, 2 2B, 8 BB, 10 K, 2-2 SB

Cleveland outrighted Anderson to AAA at the beginning of the season, but called him up in early June when they decided to waive Mark Grudzielanek and Asdrubal Cabrera got hurt.  Hernandez started part-time for them short for about a month, then was put on waivers and claimed by the Astros.  Houston waived him a short time later and sent him to AAA when he cleared, but called him back up two weeks later when Jeff Keppinger got hurt.  He spent the remainder of the season in Houston as a utility infielder.  He didn’t hit much at any stop.

2011
AAA:  300/366/400, 510 AB, 25 2B, 4 3B, 6 HR, 53 BB, 77 K, 21-33 SB

Hernandez signed a minor league deal with the Astros–who had newly signed Pirate Clint Barmes at short–and spent the year in AAA.  Hernandez split his time more or less evenly between second, third and short, and had his best hitting year in the minors, showing good plate discipline for the first time.

2012
AAA:  268/301/328, 369 AB, 9 2B, 5 3B, 1 HR, 18 BB, 58 K, 3-7 SB

With Rule 5 pick Gustavo Nunez on the 60-day disabled list, Hernandez was left to compete with Yamaico Navarro and Josh Harrison for one or possibly two backup infield spots.  A little surprisingly, he was sent to AAA around mid-March.  He ended up as more or less the regular at second, although he also played some at short and third.  He didn’t hit much.  With Brock Holt having an outstanding season at Altoona, it was more than a little puzzling to see Hernandez taking up playing time for most of the year in AAA.

Hernandez was eligible for free agency again after the season, but a little surprisingly re-signed with the Pirates.  He’ll probably play a utility role in AAA again, although he was not on the roster at the beginning of the season.

STATS
Baseball Reference–Majors
Baseball Reference–Minors
Fangraphs
MLB.com
MiLB.com
CONTRACT INFORMATION
2006: $327,000
2009: $400,000
2013: Minor league contract
PLAYER INFORMATION
Signing Bonus: N/A
MiLB Debut: 2001
MLB Debut: 9/18/2005
MiLB FA Eligible: N/A
MLB FA Eligible: 2015
Rule 5 Eligible: N/A
Added to 40-Man: September 17, 2005
Options Remaining: 0 (USED:  2006, 2007, 2008)
MLB Service Time: 2.102
TRANSACTIONS
April 23, 2001: Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an international free agent.
January 5, 2005: Traded by the Detroit Tigers to the New York Mets for Vance Wilson.
September 17, 2005: Contract purchased by the New York Mets.
August 17, 2008: Traded by the New York Mets as a PTBNL to the Washington Nationals for Luis Ayala; trade completed on August 20.
August 6, 2009: Traded by the Washington Nationals to the New York Mets for Greg Veloz.
March 17, 2010: Claimed off waivers from the New York Mets by the Cleveland Indians.
April 8, 2010: Outrighted to AAA by the Cleveland Indians.
June 8, 2010: Called up by the Cleveland Indians.
July 21, 2010: Claimed off waivers from the Cleveland Indians by the Houston Astros.
August 3, 2010: Designated for assignment by the Houston Astros; assigned to AAA on August 6.
August 20, 2010: Called up by the Houston Astros.
October 18, 2010: Became a free agent.
November 7, 2010: Signed as a minor league free agent with the Houston Astros.
November 2, 2011: Became a free agent.
December 21, 2011: Signed as a minor league free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
October 24, 2012: Signed a minor league contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates.