Will Darell Hernaiz Break Camp With The A's?

With pitchers and catchers set to report this Wednesday, and position players to arrive just days after, Spring Training is about to be in full swing for the Sacramento-bound Athletics.

This off-season the A's added a handful of pitchers, and also added veteran infielder Gio Urshela to a one-year contract to play third base for the team. Prior to the signing, the A's only had a few options at third base on the 40-man roster in Max Schuemann, Brett Harris, and Darell Hernaiz.

Max Schuemann played third base in 2024 following the A's decision to designate Abraham Toro for assignment, which allowed A's No. 1 prospect Jacob Wilson to slide in at shortstop for the A's. This season, Schuemann will likely make the roster as a utility man, given that he can play multiple positions.

According to FanGraphs' Roster Resource, they have the 23-year-old infielder, Darell Hernaiz, starting in Triple-A. Hernaiz broke camp with the A's just last season out of Spring Training. The club wanted the young infielder to be in the big leagues--even if it meant he'd be on the bench most days.

Hernaiz also dealt with a few injuries last season which landed him on the injured list. When Darell Hernaiz played with the A's in the big leagues, he had 120 at-bats where he posted a .192 average with a .261 OBP, and an OPS of .503.

Despite his numbers looking poor on the surface, Hernaiz has actually done a good job hitting through both the Orioles and A's farm systems. The A's acquired him in January of 2023 when the A's sent left-hander Cole Irvin to the O's in exchange for Hernaiz.

One of the main reasons that Hernaiz will be attractive to the team to break camp is because he could be a viable platoon option for Gio Urshela. In Hernaiz's 2024 campaign, he held an impressive .279 average against left-handed pitching and held a .143 average against right-handed pitching.

This would match up well with Gio Urshela, who is a great hitter against right-handed pitching. Even in a below-average 2024 campaign for Urshela, he batted .271 against right-handers and had a .177 average against left-handers.

If the A's can make roster space to allow the young infielder to make the Opening Day Roster, the A's could have an impressive platoon at third base. Having Urshela and Hernaiz platoon could mean the A's have the potential to have a .270+ AVG hitter playing third base every day in the 2025 season, while both are also good defenders at the hot corner, which would give the A's another boost.

Another way that Hernaiz could make the roster is by having him be the fill-in for Jacob Wilson at shortstop when the top prospect gets a day off. This will be Wilson's first big-league season, and the grind is a little different that he's accustomed to, so having a solid backup like Hernaiz would certainly be useful.