After more than a month away from the field after suffering an elbow injury in July, Kiké Hernández is officially returning to the field for the Los Angeles Dodgers, having been activated off the injury list on August 25.
That’s right, after securing a quality win over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park to even up the NL West standings, the Dodgers have finally gotten some reinforcement as they look to take on the Cincinnati Reds in Elysian Park, with Hyeseong Kim, Tommy Edman, Max Muncy, and beyond waiting in the wings to further fortify the depth chart.
To free up a spot for Hernández, the Dodgers have DFA’d Buddy Kennedy, the journeyman third baseman who landed in LA earlier this month to help fortify the position, even if he didn’t really catch on in the way fans might have hoped.
Taking the field for seven games in Dodgers blue, Kennedy struggled to get much going for Dave Roberts’ squad, with even the occasional bit of brilliance in the field undermined by his 1-17 struggles at the plate, good for a ghastly .059 batting average. Any hope of Kennedy becoming Los Angeles’ version of Andrew Vaughn quickly flew out of the window, and he ultimately looked like the odd man out whenever a regular contributor was ready to return from IL.
With Hernández coming up first, Kennedy packed his bags and exited the stadium, on to whatever comes next in his MLB journey.
Though Hernández may not be an everyday player for the Dodgers in 2025, he is one of the more interesting reserves in the Majors, with a unique ability to play every single position on the field minus catcher, including throwing some garbage time innings as a pitcher when his team found themselves in a blowout game. Considering the Dodgers have been missing a certain edge over the summer, maybe bringing back a certified personality like Hernández could wake the team up and get things back on track heading into the fall.
Matty Breisch is a Senior Editor who specializes in NFL and WWE for ClutchPoints. He also has bylines at Heavy, Fansided, The Needle Drop, and Philadelphia Sports Network.
