DENVER, CO—Joining Scott and Yates this week with the Comets will be utilitymen Hyeseong Kim and Kiké Hernández after both players had successful live at-bat sessions over the weekend at Dodger Stadium.
Hernández was first placed on the injured list on July 7th with left elbow inflammation. The initial projections were that he would return shortly after the All-Star break, but things didn’t progress well.
Hernández then underwent nonsurgical procedures, which have since accelerated his progress, allowing him to ramp up baseball activities such as running, fielding, throwing, and most recently, swinging a bat —a task that had caused him the most discomfort.
Now, after checking all the boxes this past weekend, the fan-favorite will go out on a minor league rehab assignment this week, per Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
“He’s going to go out on rehab this week, so that’s a big step for him,” Roberts said. “He’s anxious to get going.”
Joining Hernández will be Hyeseong Kim, who has been on the 10-day injured list since late July after suffering a left shoulder injury, an issue that was affecting him for a few weeks.
“Hyeseong will go out at some point, and as we talked about, Tanner and Kirby will go out as well,” Roberts said. “We’ve got guys on the come. They’ll be out this week.”
After a hot start to his Major League career, Kim struggled in July, posting a .204/.218/.222 slash line and a .440 OPS and 20 wRC+, along with seeing his strikeout-rate nearly double to 40.0% in fifty-four at-bats.
In his place, the Dodgers recalled their No. 3 overall prospect Alex Freeland, who has struggled so far since his promotion, hitting just .167 with a 53 wRC+ in fifteen games.
Once Kim and Hernández return, the lone position player outside of Muncy would be another utilityman in Tommy Edman, but the Dodgers are being cautious as they want his ankle to be fully healed before October.
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