It was on the fourth of July when Kike Hernandez injured his elbow, prompting the Los Angeles Dodgers to send him to the 10-day injured list. It wasn’t quite clear just how serious Hernandez’s injury was, but it was clear that the inflammation he sustained was severe enough for him to miss nearly two months of action. But he’s back now, with the Dodgers activating him from the IL before their dominant 7-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday.

The Dodgers didn’t need to call upon Hernandez, instead placing him on the bench to begin with and never finding the need to call upon him. And while Hernandez’s numbers in 2025 haven’t been very impressive anyway, his positional versatility and propensity for coming through in clutch moments makes him a valuable member of the roster nonetheless — especially come October.

Make no mistake about it, however, it took Hernandez quite the journey to get back healthy for the Dodgers. According to Sonja Chen of MLB.com, Hernandez needed four injections in his elbow before he was “finally pain-free”.

With his elbow being vulnerable, Hernandez said that he’ll be wearing an elbow sleeve to protect him from re-aggravation. And the Dodgers utility man had some jokes in the process.

“Hopefully, the brace is going to make me like Shohei,” Hernandez quipped.

With September right around the corner, deep teams such as the Dodgers are going to make use of the expanded rosters to the best of their ability. Hernandez is surely going to be doing his usual rounds across the diamond, preparing himself for yet another pennant race and World Series chase without having to think about his elbow.

Kike Hernandez bleeds blue for the Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Kike Hernandez throws to first on a bunt
Owen Ziliak/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

Hernandez has been an incredible postseason performer his entire career, and no one can ever take that away from him even if he fails to record a hit in the playoffs from here on out. Somehow, Hernandez has 15 career dingers in the playoffs, with 10 of those coming with the Dodgers. (He even recorded a playoff run where he hit five long balls back in 2021 when he was with the Boston Red Sox.)

The Dodgers aren’t counting on Hernandez to move the needle in the regular season. His slash line of .195/.259/.367 on the year certainly is nothing worth writing home about. But come October, expect Hernandez to, indeed, channel his inner Shohei Ohtani once again.