Struggling Teoscar Hernandez gets sent to Triple-A

It looks like Teoscar Hernandez’s miserable four-strikeout showing yesterday afternoon in San Fransisco was the last straw. The struggling outfielder has been optioned to Triple-A Buffalo and infielder Richard Urena has been recalled in his place.

After a decent rookie season in 2018 in which he slashed a .239/.302/.468 line with 22 homers, Hernandez has had a disastrous start to the season. He has a .562 OPS in 39 games, just three home runs, and a whopping 42 strikeouts to a paltry 13 walks. And, as we know, his glove certainly isn’t going to make up for his lack of production at the plate.

Charlie Montoyo commented on Hernandez after yesterday’s game, noting that it was clear the 26-year-old was lacking confidence…

I had thought Lourdes Gurriel might be coming up to replace Hernandez. Earlier today, Shi Davidi wrote about how Gurriel’s path to a Major League return would likely be through playing in the outfield. Instead, Richard Urena will join the team again.

That means the Jays will have Randal Grichuk, Jonathan Davis, and Billy McKinney as their main three outfielders without a true fourth outfielder. We’ll likely see Brandon Drury get more reps in the outfield, which is a good sign for him because he’s has his playing time diminish since Vlad Jr. joined the team.

In other news, Socrates Brito cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A Buffalo. Maybe we can re-hash that experiment soon! Right? RIGHT??? Another thing to note… The Bisons now have an absurd logjam of outfielders on the team. Surely there has to be a transaction on the way.