Can Teoscar Hernandez Return to All-Star Form in L.A.? Fantasy Baseball Outlook

Once you've spent over a billion dollars, what's another 23.5 million dollars more? After Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed enormous long-term contracts with the Dodgers earlier this offseason, veteran outfielder Teoscar Hernandez signed on with the team this past Sunday on a 1-year $23.5 million deal.

The 31-year-old was an All-Star in 2021 and won Silver Slugger awards in 2020 and 2021. He's produced more than 22 HR in every season since 2018 except for the shortened 2020 season (although he hit 16 in 207 PA, a 40 HR pace assuming 530 PA). He's also much better against left-handed pitching, slashing .287/.510/.817 with a wRC+ of 120 last season against them versus .249/.413/.718 and a 100 wRC+ against right-handed pitching.

Let's take a look at what else the slugger brings to the Dodgers' offense and what his fantasy outlook for 2024 will be.

Teoscar Hernandez 2024 Fantasy Baseball Outlook

Hernandez had spent most of his career in Toronto before being traded to Seattle in 2023. He spent time last season between RF (135 G) and DH (28 G). He'll likely do the same for the Dodgers, although it may be in LF, and may get spelled by super-utilityman Chris Taylor or fellow newcomer Manuel Margot.

Home Run number 2️⃣0️⃣ for Teoscar Hernandez is a grand slam and it’s 5-0 Mariners! 🔱

(via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/ajcr6Pjt15

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 26, 2023

The powerful righty is coming off a season in which he hit .258-26-93-70-7 with a wOBA of .317 and wRC+ of 105. His FGDC projection has him with a slightly better season overall, projected to hit .258-29-91-76-7 with a wOBA of .332 and wRC+ of 110. That doesn't seem unreasonable seeing as though the Dodger lineup is an upgrade over the Mariner lineup. Seattle scored 4.68 R/game in 2023, good for 12th-best, while the Dodgers scored the second-most at 5.53 R/game and should be near the top again in 2024.

With a career Contact% of 67.5%, he's a bit streaky and last season was no exception. You can see in the table below that he started off hitting 7 HR in March/April, then 2 in May, then 6, then 1, then 7, and then 3 in the final stretch, with batting average running hot to cold from month-to-month as well.

For such a powerful hitter you'd like to see a higher OBP and OPS, but with his abysmal BB% of 5.6%, those stats finished at .305 and .741 respectively. The other concerning thing that doesn't foretell a rebound in batting average, OBP, or wRC+ to the levels seen in '20 and '21 is his high K% of 31.1%. That number is closer to his career K% of 29.7% and rose for the second consecutive campaign last season from a low of 24.9% in 2021.

The recently acquired Dodger has an NFBC ADP and RotoBaller rank of 149. That seems to be an appropriate price given that other options going around him offer similar production and deficiencies (i.e. Anthony Santander, Ian Happ).

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