Kiké's return could clear one Dodgers blemish

LOS ANGELES -- Over the past couple of months, injuries have chipped away at the Dodgers' position-player depth. They got the first of several players on the mend back on Monday, when utility man Kiké Hernández was activated ahead of the series opener against the Reds.

Hernández had been on the 10-day injured list since July 7 with inflammation in his left elbow. Prior to then, he had been playing hurt for more than a month.

"I played till, basically, I felt like I couldn't even hold the bat anymore," Hernández said. "And I mean, it was kind of dumb on my end. But I've always felt that if I feel like I could play, I'm not going to go on the IL. By the time we went in for the MRI, it was a little too late."

Infielder Buddy Kennedy was designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

Before being sidelined, the versatile Hernández saw the bulk of his playing time in the infield. But given where the Dodgers' roster is now, they might have more of a need for him in the outfield down the stretch.

Last week, some poor defense from Teoscar Hernández sparked a conversation about whether the Dodgers need to shake things up in right field. For the time being, there is no plan to make a change. But the bigger question when it comes to the outfield configuration might be how to get the most offensively out of the team's left fielders.

Entering Monday, Dodgers left fielders combined for the second-lowest OPS (.661) out of the team's position groups, higher only than the second basemen (.653).

Michael Conforto has been the Dodgers' primary left fielder, and while he put together his best offensive month in July, August is shaping up to be his worst month in an overall rough season at the plate.

Going forward, manager Dave Roberts said he sees left field being open-ended. Some alternatives to Conforto include Alex Call and Kiké Hernández. Interestingly, Hyeseong Kim started the first game of his rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City in left, where he played sparingly in his KBO days.

Kiké Hernández, who typically comes into his own when the games mean the most, could be a big addition as the Dodgers fight for the NL West title in the season's final month and change.

"Kiké is a guy that's sort of the wild card in the sense of, hasn't had the year up to this point," Roberts said. "The last few weeks, he was hurt. But he's a guy that we played every day in the postseason."

For about the first month of his IL stint, Hernández didn't make much progress. He ended up getting four injections in his elbow in that span. The first three -- cortisone, platelet-rich plasma and hydrodissection with stem cells -- didn't do anything.

Four days after getting a fourth injection -- another cortisone shot -- Hernández finally felt better. If it hadn't worked, he might have needed season-ending surgery.

"I almost cried in the morning because it was the first morning that I woke up pain-free," he said. "It was a couple days after that -- started swinging two weeks ago, to be exact, on a Monday. It's been a quick ramp-up."

Hernández was hitting .195 with a .626 OPS when he hit the IL. It is no guarantee that he will be an offensive upgrade in left field, but his numbers took a dip after he hurt his elbow on an awkward slide in the final week of May.

"I haven't been the most prolific hitter in the world, but I'm also not a sub-.100 hitter for a month," Hernández said. "It got very challenging. It got to the point where I felt like I couldn't catch up to the fastball. And then when I was making the right adjustments to be able to catch up to the fastball, I couldn't adjust to the breaking pitches."

In five rehab games with Oklahoma City, Hernández went 5-for-14 (.357) with a pair of doubles and three RBIs. Defensively, he played third base, left field and center field.

While going through his pregame work on Monday, Hernández wore a sleeve over his left elbow, which he used in every game except one during his rehab assignment. He feels good playing without it, but it gives him some protection while swinging and defending his position.

And perhaps there will be another benefit.

"Hopefully," Hernández said, "the brace is going to make me like Shohei."