Dodgers get Kiké Hernández back from injury, option Alex Freeland to minors

Kiké Hernández is back. Again.

On Tuesday, the Dodgers activated the veteran utilityman from the injured list as scheduled, officially welcoming him back from an oblique strain that has sidelined him since May 26.

After his return from offseason elbow surgery was cut short by an oblique strain, Kiké Hernández is healthy and back on the Dodgers’ active roster again. Getty Images

Hernández’s oblique injury came shortly after he returned from another IL stint at the start of the year, having not made his season debut until May 25 after recovering from an offseason elbow surgery.

Hernández impressed in his first two games back, going 4-for-4 with a home run and pair of doubles. However, he also tweaked his oblique during batting practice before the first game. Initially, he tried to play through the discomfort. But by the next day, the pain had reached a point where he was forced to be removed in the fifth inning.

“I feel pretty defeated right now,” Hernández said that night. 

“Today was one of those games that I felt like if I kept going, I was probably going to really, really put myself in danger of missing the rest of the season.”

Luckily for both the team and its 34-year-old fan favorite, Hernández made a relatively quick recovery from what manager Dave Roberts described as a “significant tear” to his left side muscle.

Within five weeks of the injury, he was already ramping up baseball activities, both hitting in pregame batting practice and taking defensive drills on the infield. Coming out of the All-Star break earlier this month, he reported to triple-A Oklahoma City for a rehab assignment, where he went 8-for-24 with two doubles and a home run in seven minor-league games.

Hernandez, who has been a key part of Los Angeles’ back-to-back World Series titles, could play another major role in the postseason. Getty Images

Now, he is back on the active roster, where he will reprise his familiar utility role as an option at second base, third base and the outfield. 

The veteran will give the Dodgers another right-handed bat off the bench, too, making back-up outfielder Alex Call (a fellow right-handed hitter) a potentially redundant piece the Dodgers could look to trade before next Monday’s deadline.

For now, infielder Alex Freeland was optioned back to triple-A to make room on the roster for Hernández’s return.