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Ramón Hernández [rah-MON er-NAN-deth] (born May 20, 1976 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a Major League Baseball catcher and right-handed batter who plays for the San Diego Padres. Previously, he played with the Oakland Athletics (1999-2003).
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Career
Hernández made his debut with Oakland in June 1999 as a backup catcher for A.J. Hinch. His steady progress enabled the Athletics to trade Hinch to the Kansas City Royals at the end of the 2000 season.
With experience, Hernández became a catcher who can hit, rather than a hitter who can catch. He also earned praise for his defense and game-calling skills with a powerful pitching staff that includes Cy Young Award winner Barry Zito, Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson.
In 2003 Hernández broke out with his best season, hitting .273 with 21 home runs and 78 RBI and made his first All-Star Game. Nevertheless, Oakland had to deal him to San Diego for financial reasons, not because untested Adam Melhuse was ready to be their starting catcher. But by other way, the Padres acquired their best backstop since Benito Santiago left the team in 1992. At the time of the deal Hernández have caught at least 135 games each of the last four years.
For the second season in a row, the only thing that kept Hernández from hitting 20 home runs was an injury. He missed four weeks in the mid-season after damaging his left knee in a collision at the plate. But Hernández was better than ever upon his return, batting .281 and slugging 11 home runs with 38 RBI in the second part. He finished the season with .276, 18, 63. His 18 homers, by the way, ranked him third behind Phil Nevin (26) and Brian Giles (23) in the power-poor Padres lineup. The last San Diego catcher to hit more homers that Hernández was Terry Kennedy, who had 21 in 1982.
In a six-year career with Oakland and San Diego, Hernández is a .257 hitter with 78 home runs and 326 RBI in 706 games. Only 28 this year, he figures to keep improving.
Highlights
- All-Star (2003)
- Set Oakland record in games caught (142, 2000; one more than Ray Fosse, 1973)
- Ranked fifth in home runs and RBI among 21 major league catchers (15 and 60 in 2001, behind Mike Piazza, Jorge Posada, Javy López and Charles Johnson.
See also
External links
- Ramón Hernández at:
- Baseball Reference (statistics and analysis) (http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hernara02.shtml)
- ESPN (profile and daily update) (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6258)
- Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers (http://members.tripod.com/bb_catchers/catchers/hernandezr.htm)