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The Los Angeles Dodgers will be without slugging outfielder Teoscar Hernández for at least 10 days — and likely longer than that — as they announced that they have placed him on the Injured List prior to Tuesday’s game against the Miami Marlins. Outfielder James Outman was recalled from Triple-A Omaha for the first time this season to take Hernández’s roster spot and likely the bulk of his playing time in his absence.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke to the media after the transaction, to state that Hernández had suffered a grade 1 adductor strain. Hernández first experienced discomfort after he chased and caught a ball hit in the gap by Javier Sanoja in the third inning Monday. When his turn to bat came up again in the fourth, Hernández was replaced by Chris Taylor. An MRI performed on Monday revealed the extent of the injury, and Roberts explained that there’s no timetable for Hernández’s return, as that all depends on when he’s able to first start working his way back.
“He doesn’t come out of baseball games, so we put him on the IL,” Roberts said Tuesday. “Obviously, he’s going to be inactive for a while. I don’t really know what timetable.”
Hernández was a revelation for the Dodgers in 2024 in what was his first year with the club, batting .272/.339/.501 with 33 home runs, 68 extra-base hits overall and a 136 OPS+ that ranked fifth in a loaded lineup behind Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Max Muncy. He continued his success into the postseason, where he posted a 1.067 OPS in the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres and then a .350/.381/.550 slash line in the World Series against the New York Yankees. His 2025 has started out even better, with Hernández batting .315/.333/.600 with nine homers and a league-leading 34 RBI. All good for a 160 OPS+ that sits just behind Freeman (202) and Ohtani (177).
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“It’s certainly weeks, but I don’t know how long,” Roberts said of Hernández’s return. “He’s had a huge impact. Without Teo, you try to balance out the lineup. I think it’s going to be more of a platoon-paced roster right now. And we’ll go from there.”
With starting second baseman Tommy Edman already on the IL with an ankle injury retroactive to last Wednesday, and temporarily replaced in the lineup by Hyeseong Kim, the Dodgers’ depth is being tested. Outman was hitting .254/.322/.508 with eight homers for Triple-A Omaha at the time he was recalled and is a career .231/.337/.408 hitter (104 OPS+) in 739 career big-league plate appearances, so the Dodgers aren’t dipping into the replacement-level player parts of the depth chart yet. Outman did bat just .147/.256/.265 in 53 games last summer, however, so Los Angeles might end up needing Hernández back sooner than later if Outman hits like he did in 2024 again, or if anybody else on the roster ends up missing significant time.
“It’s up to him to go out there and relax and know that you can be comfortable in this environment and be free and go play,” Roberts said of Outman.
Outman, a left-handed hitter, will likely start in center field against right-handed pitchers, with one of the Dodgers’ bench options — Kiké Hernández or Chris Taylor — platooning with him to face left-handed pitchers. Outman has hit .228/.334/.444 with 27 homers in 566 MLB plate appearances against right-handers, compared to slugging just .288 against southpaws in 173 plate appearances.
The 24-11 Dodgers entered play on Tuesday night just a half-game up on the second-place Padres in the NL West, but leading the majors in both wins and win percentage (68.6%). They also recalled right-handed reliever J.P. Feyereisen from Oklahoma City and designated right-handed reliever Yoendrys Gomez for assignment on Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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