Prospect Watch: Raul Hernandez
When he signed out of Venezuela, Pittsburgh Pirates catching prospect Raul Hernandez was one of the oldest signees from the island. At 18 years old, he was already a pretty well-developed prospect, but the Pirates saw an opportunity to not only give Hernandez a chance, but help give them some more depth at the Minor League level. He ended up signing with the Pirates in 2014 and began his career one year later. He has since worked his way up the Minor League ladder and made it all the way to Advanced-A Bradenton where he served as the starting catcher last season.
It turned out to be his best offensive year in terms of batting average as he hit .247 at Advanced-A Bradenton with 19 RBI. The power has not shown up yet for the young catching prospect, but his offense has picked up dramatically since his signing. Prior to last season, Hernandez had only batted over .300 twice in his professional career, and that was during his first year of professional baseball and in 2018. His defense has always been his strong suit behind the plate, but the newfound offensive ability is only going to help Hernandez's stock moving forward. In an organization almost void of catching depth, Hernandez could be the guy who makes himself stand out from the rest.
Hernandez was born in Maturin, Venezuela, and had been playing baseball all of his life. During the 2014 season, Major League Baseball was working on reaching out and signing talents from around the world. Venezuela had a lot to offer in terms of talent, one of those names being Hernandez's. His offensive stats did not jump out on paper, but his defense was what he was highly noted for, and it made him an intriguing option for Pittsburgh. At 18 years old, he was one of the oldest prospects signed that off-season, and the Pirates knew it would take some time to develop his offensive game.
He began his professional career during the 2015 season with the Dominican Summer League Pirates and, after not showing much promise on offense in the scouting report, had a good offensive year. He ended up hitting .304 that season with 19 RBI in 41 games played for the Pirates. He was not a very patient hitter throughout the year, walking just eight times, but he was also not an easy strikeout, with just 15 on the year. He didn't show much out of the ballpark power but used the gaps to his advantage hitting 11 doubles and one triple for a 26.7 extra-base hit percentage.
Hernandez built off of the strong start he had to the season, as he ended up hitting .500 (9-18) in his first six games of his professional career. The offensive success was a surprise to the organization and allowed Hernandez to get more opportunities behind the plate for the DSL Pirates. He ended the season with seven multi-hit games and collected at least one hit in 28 of his 41 games played. After a little bit of a cold spell in the middle of the season, Hernandez got back on track, ending 2015 on a five-game hitting streak as he headed into the off-season.
With the offensive side of his game starting to show through, the Pirates would move Hernandez to the states in 2016 and he would start the season with the GCL Pirates. He continued his five-game hitting streak into 2016, collecting a hit in his first game of that season, but his offensive success from the year before did not transfer over. He collected just three hits in his first 15 at-bats and none of them went for extra bases. He would then get a rare opportunity to fill in at Advanced-A Bradenton for one game and ended up going 0-3 with a walk. He would be sent back down to the GCL Pirates where he would spend the next month and a half.
Hernandez's batting average would end up coming back down to Earth as he hit just .222 that season with three home runs and 19 RBI. After hitting just .222 through his first four games of the year, Hernandez started to pick up his game after his one-day promotion to Advanced-A Bradenton. Over his next 12 games, he would hit .276 with two of his three home runs and 12 RBI. He would continue to be the starting catcher for the GCL Pirates until he earned his promotion to Class Low-A West Virginia Power in mid-August. He would appear in 11 games for the Power in 2016, and his offensive numbers were not getting any better, as he batted just .150 with five RBI.
The Pirates were disappointed with Hernandez's production in 2016, and as a result, sent him down to Rookie Ball once again to begin the 2017 season. He would play a total of seven games between the GCL Pirates and Bristol Pirates and combined to hit just .178 with six RBI. He seemed to have lost his extra-base power that he had during his first professional season, as he had just one extra-base hit, and both Hernandez and the Pirates were searching for answers to his offensive struggles. In a last-ditch effort to keep his professional career alive, the Pirates moved him to the Class-A Short Season West Virginia Power in July 2017 to see how he would fare.
He would end up playing in 18 games for the Black Bears and saw a slight uptick in his offensive stats as he got back to his roots of simply being a contact hitter. His batting average jumped to .259 with three RBI in 58 at-bats. He still wasn't showing that extra-base hit power, but he was getting on base on a more consistent basis, and showed that he could handle professional pitching. When the Class Low-A team suffered injuries at the end of the 2017 season, Hernandez would get another opportunity to move up and hit .188 with an RBI in five games with the Power.
With the Pirates needing to move atop catching prospect up through the system, the Pirates ended up starting Hernandez with the Power for the 2018 season. It would turn out to be his best offensive year of his career as he hit .325 with one home run and 22 RBI as the Power starting catcher. He started to show power that he hadn't in the past, and his extra-base hit percentage skyrocketed to 26.7%. He had 12 extra-base hits in total including 11 doubles throughout the season. However, just as his offense was getting started, he dealt with his first stint on the injured list and had to miss time with a hamstring injury.
When he came back from injury, Hernandez continued to be a strong catcher both offensively and defensively for the Power He kept his batting average over the .300 mark and had a fielding percentage in the .990s. He earned another promotion last off-season and was named the starting catcher for the Advanced-A Bradenton Marauders. He was hoping to continue his offensive success and help himself stand out from the rest of the options in the Pirates Minor League system.
However, his offensive numbers would not respond the way he had hoped as hit batting average dropped to .247 while he drove in 19 RBI in 78 games played. Hernandez started swinging and missing more often and his strikeout numbers ticked up to a career-high 51, while his walk numbers didn't budge with just 14 walks all season. As he gets set to turn 24-years old this season, Hernandez is running out of time to develop in the lower levels if he wants any real shot at making the Major League team. There has never been a question about Hernandez's defensive ability, but it remains to be seen whether or not his offensive numbers will follow suit.
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