Hernandez shares bond beyond just baseball with Houston
LOS ANGELES — The lighthitting utility man who blasted three home runs and tied a playoff record with seven RBIs in a blowout that sent the Dodgers to the 2017 World Series?
He debuted with the Astros in 2014, spent six years in the organization’s minor league system, and played winter league ball with Carlos Correa in Puerto Rico during the same year the No. 1 pick was drafted.
The plane that Astros owner Jim Crane recently provided to help the Hurricane Mariadamaged island and later used to bring family members of the Astros to the United States?
Loved ones of Enrique Hernandez were also on that plane.
“Sometimes there’s things that money can’t buy. It didn’t matter how much I was willing to pay, I couldn’t get (my family) out because there was just no planes,” Hernandez said Monday, the day before Game 1 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium. “What Jim Crane did, it’s always going to have a little special place in my heart.”
Hernandez played only 24 games and had 81 at-bats for the 92-loss 2014 Astros, then was traded to Miami in the deal that included Jarred Cosart, Jake Marisnick, Francis Martes and Colin Moran.
Those last three names all played parts in the Astros’ 101win 2017 season, which now has Houston’s baseball team just four victories from its first world title.
But even though Hernandez’s official connection with the Astros ended more than three years ago, he remains close to the team he grew up with during his slow rise through the minors.
“I went from being a 17-yearold kid out of Puerto Rico to finding a way to mature and becoming a big leaguer. … There’s a lot of love for that organization, and that’s never going to change,” said Hernandez, who hit .215 with 11 home runs and a .729 OPS in 140 regular-season games with the Dodgers this season.
Hurricane Harvey was often mentioned after the Astros made the World Series for just the second time in franchise history. Less than two months ago, Houston was flooded and in the middle of the worst natural disaster in the city’s history.
Post-Maria Puerto Rico also remains close to the hearts of the Astros’ Carlos Beltran, Juan Centeno, Alex Cora and Correa, who are all from the area.
For Hernandez, who was born in San Juan and played with Correa and Beltran on Puerto Rico’s 2017 World Baseball Classic team, the international World Series stage is another opportunity to remind the world of the help Puerto Rico still needs.
“We Puerto Ricans are extremely proud people. … Even when it was happening, I never thought about, ‘Man, I just hit three homers in a playoff game,’ ” Hernandez said. “I was thinking about, ‘This is amazing. I hope people in Puerto Rico are watching. This is going to make them feel good.’ ”
Said Correa, who is from Ponce: “The people of Puerto Rico still need a lot of help. We’re not done yet. We sent help, but we’re going to send a lot more. Obviously, this takes a lot out of you, but we don’t forget our people back home. As soon as the season’s over, I want to go back home … to bring food and clothes and water to the people of Puerto Rico.”