Look, everyone knows Enrique "Kike" Hernandez is a postseason legend and a defensive wizard who can play basically anywhere. But when things get weird in a blowout or a marathon extra-innings game, seeing kike hernandez pitching stats pop up on the scoreboard is one of those baseball moments that just feels right.
He’s not exactly Shohei Ohtani out there. Honestly, far from it. But there’s a specific kind of magic when a guy who usually spends his night robbing home runs in center field suddenly has to toe the rubber and lob 50-mph "curves" to some of the best hitters in the world.
What the kike hernandez pitching stats actually tell us
If you’re looking for a Cy Young candidate, you’re in the wrong place. Through the 2025 season, the raw numbers are exactly what you’d expect from a position player doing his best to save a burnt-out bullpen. Across 10 career appearances on the mound, Hernandez has put up a 12.60 ERA.
That sounds high—because it is—but context is everything here. He’s tossed exactly 10.0 innings in the big leagues. In that time, he’s given up 14 earned runs and issued about 11 walks.
The WHIP? A cool 2.70.
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Breaking down the year-by-year chaos
Kike didn’t even pitch for the first few years of his career. His debut on the mound didn’t happen until 2018 with the Dodgers. That night was a disaster for the record books. It was a 16-inning slog against the Phillies, and Kike ended up being the "last man standing."
He gave up a three-run walk-off home run to Trevor Plouffe. That single play made him the first position player in MLB history to give up a walk-off homer. Not exactly the kind of history you want to make, but hey, someone had to throw the ball.
- 2018: 0.1 IP, 3 ER, 81.00 ERA (Ouch)
- 2024: 4.1 IP, 2 ER, 4.15 ERA (Actually pretty respectable!)
- 2025: 5.1 IP, 9 ER, 15.19 ERA
Last season in 2025, he was called upon five different times. That’s a lot for a guy who is primarily there to hit homers and play second base. While the 15.19 ERA from last year looks ugly, he did manage to record his first career strikeout. Watching a utility guy freeze a pro hitter with a pitch that barely hits 60 mph is peak entertainment.
The "Arsenal": What is he actually throwing?
Kike doesn't have a "fastball" in the traditional sense. When he's on the mound, he’s mostly just trying to guide the ball toward the plate without getting anyone—including himself—hurt. According to Statcast, his primary weapon is a "curveball" that averages about 53.5 mph.
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Think about that for a second. Most high schoolers throw harder than that. But that’s the strategy. When a hitter has been seeing 98-mph heaters all night, a 53-mph lob is surprisingly hard to time. He uses this slow stuff about 41% of the time.
Interestingly, he has shown he can ramp it up if he wants to. We’ve seen him uncork outfield assists at 94 mph, but on the mound, he stays in the 60s and 70s to keep his arm fresh. It’s all about survival.
Why managers keep calling his number
Dave Roberts doesn't put Kike in because he thinks he's going to shut teams down. It’s a strategic white flag. When you’re down by 10 runs in the 8th inning, or you’ve used every single reliever in a 15-inning marathon, you have to protect your real pitchers' arms.
Kike is the perfect "human victory cigar" (or white flag) because he’s a gamer. He doesn’t take it too seriously, which keeps the clubhouse mood light even during a blowout. Plus, he’s durable. He’s played every single position on the field now except catcher.
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The Dodgers used him five times in relief in 2025 alone. That’s more than some actual "cup of coffee" relief pitchers get in a season.
The value of the "Position Player Pitching"
There's a lot of debate about whether position players should be allowed to pitch as often as they do. Some fans hate it; they think it cheapens the game. Others love the absurdity of it. For a guy like Hernandez, it’s just another line on a resume that already includes multiple World Series rings (2020, 2024, and 2025).
If you're tracking his value, don't look at the ERA. Look at the fact that those 10 innings he's eaten up over his career probably saved the Dodgers' "real" bullpen about 200 pitches. That’s one or two games where a high-leverage reliever didn’t have to blow out his arm in a meaningless inning.
To get the full picture of his career, you really have to look at the contrast. This is a guy with 130 career home runs and a postseason OPS that makes him look like Babe Ruth. Then you see the 12.60 pitching ERA and realize he’s just a guy who loves being on the field, no matter what he’s doing.
If you’re keeping a close eye on the Dodgers' box scores this season, watch for those lopsided scores in the late innings. Whenever the lead gets past 8 or 9 runs, there's a very high chance you'll see #8 jogging in from the dugout to provide some more highlight-reel (or blooper-reel) pitching stats.
For fans wanting to track this in real-time, the best move is to follow the live Statcast feeds during Dodgers games. You can see the "break" on his 50-mph pitches, which is usually just gravity doing most of the work. You can also check the updated game logs on Baseball-Reference to see if he's added to his career strikeout total, which currently sits at a grand total of one.