Phillies GM Matt Klentak Shares Thoughts on Hernandez, Herrera, Kingery

By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor

While the Manny Machado/Bryce Harper speculation is clearly the No. 1 question mark of this offseason, the prospects of whether Cesar Hernandez, Odubel Herrera, and Scott Kingery are in the club's short- and long-term plans also remains a high priority.

Tuesday on MLB Network, Phillies Vice President and General Matt Klentak relayed his confidence in all three, especially Hernandez, who played nearly half of last season with a broken foot.

"[Before Hernandez] fouled a ball off his foot, he was having a pretty typical ‘Cesar Hernandez season.’ It’s a credit to him in a playoff push he wanted to push through that," Klentak said. "I don’t want to just conclude he had a poor or worse-than-expected season."

Hernandez's production saw a significant dip in 2018 compared to previous seasons. His batting average saw a near 40-point decline, abliet setting career-high parks in games (161), plate appearances (708), at-bats (605), runs scored (91), home runs (15), RBI (60) and walks (95).

"It’s pretty explainable," Klentak continued. "I think with the benefit of a fully healed foot he’s going to be right back to being the high on-base leadoff guy he was for the two prior years."

Despite adding Jean Segura — and possibly Machado — into the middle infield mix, Klentak said he has "a lot of confidence" that Kingery will continue to grow, as that is what "talented 24-year-olds do."

"When they turn 25, 26, 27, more often than not, these guys improve. Scott Kingery was thrown right into the fire on Opening Day," Klentak said. "He came into camp not expecting to make the team. Made the team. Started off in the super-utility role, and shortly thereafter became our starting shortstop."

Kingery logged 887 innings at shortstop in his rookie season, committing nine errors spanning 358 chances, while turning 45 double plays.

"He hadn’t played shortstop in a long time. He had a lot on his plate and a lot to learn," Klentak said. "I know what the offensive output looked like, but I think it was an incredible year of growth for Scott Kingery, and I expect he’ll come back better than ever."

Perhaps the biggest doubt among the trio of players Klentak discussed is that of four-year veteran Herrera. The Venezuela native is often criticized for having polarizing months, some of All-Star caliber, and others the complete opposite. In March/April 2018, Herrera batted .343, followed by .283 in May, .236 in June, .253 in July, .205 in August and just .171 in September/October. Overall, Herrera slugged a career-high 22 home runs and 71 RBI, with a .255/.310/.420 slash.

"I know that there are some game-to-game, week-to-week, month-to-month inconsistencies with [Odubel Herrera], but when you look at the aggregate performance of this player over the last four years, he’s been remarkably consistent," Herrera said. "I think he’s had an OPS somewhere between .740 and .780 his entire career. I get the game-to-game. It’s not predictable, but over the course of a year, this guy has been pretty solid."

Klentak said the club is "trying to improve," and to do so, some of that will "come in the form of acquisitions" it makes. However, he added that while the team's improvement in 2019 will be as a result of these additions, its young players like Hernandez, Herrera, and Kingery are vital in the growth of the overall club as well.

"[That starts] with Segura, now with Andrew McCutchen, and potentially others, but another big piece of our success in 2019 is going to be driven by the way that our young players continue to develop," Klentak said. "That’s how teams get better; young players get better.

"It’s going to be some combination of the two that will lead us to hopefully get where we want to get next year."