"Who's laughing now?" - Teoscar Hernandez’s agent fires back at critics after Dodgers star posts career highs on a 1-year deal
Close to a year ago, doubts were cast upon Teoscar Hernandez as the then-one-time All-Star struggled with the Seattle Mariners. After a productive stint with the Toronto Blue Jays, he was shipped off to the Mariners in exchange for Erik Swanson and Adam Macko. However, his time in the Emerald City was far from ideal.
Fast forward to now and Hernandez has cemented his spot in the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup alongside the game's biggest names, such as Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
Teoscar Hernandez's bounceback season received praise from his agent and founder of Republik Sports, Rafa Nieves. The sports agent boasted how great of a pick-up the outfielder was despite the mockery from other agents who criticized him for the one year deal.
"Who's laughing now?" - Rafa Nieves
Nieves further boasted Hernandez's achievements for the season in spite of the short-term deal he signed at the start of the year. The 31-year-old Dominican outfielder slashed .272/.339/.501 with 33 home runs and 99 RBIs in the regular season.
In addition, Teoscar Hernandez won the Home Run Derby and appeared in his second All-Star game. He also posted career highs in home runs, wins above replacement and weighted runs created plus.
Teoscar Hernandez comes up big in NLDS
Having been acquired ahead of this season, few people expected Teoscar Hernandez to hang with the big names in the Los Angeles Dodgers' batting order.
However, that couldn't have been further from the truth, as the outfielder has exceeded all expectations not only in the regular season but in the postseason as well.
The two-time All-Star recorded .333/.400/.667 averages with two home runs, seven runs batted in, and three runs scored in the five-game NLDS series of the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres.
In Game 5, Hernandez hit a home run off of Padres ace Yu Darvish in the bottom seventh inning. The home run was the last run scored in the series as the Dodgers shut the lid on the Padres on their way to the NLCS.