Los Angeles Dodgers have a second baseman curse

The second base position has been a rotating door of faces for the Los Angeles Dodgers, all of which have fallen short of expectations.

There are a few things that have been constant for the Los Angeles Dodgers during the team’s six-year playoff run. The team has always had great starting pitching, led by Clayton Kershaw, and over the last few years, has had the depth that would make most teams jealous.

Another constant for the Los Angeles Dodgers is that the second base position has been so inconsistent. So many different guys have suited up to be the everyday second baseman, all of which have fallen flat as a result.

The curse is currently effecting Enrique Hernandez, who has been dreadful since a hot start to the 2019 campaign. Hernandez is hitting .219 with a .698 OPS and 44 strikeouts in 44 games played. This is a massive step back from the impressive 2018 that Hernandez crafted to earn the starting job.

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For now, Hernandez is still getting the start more days than not because of his Gold Glove-caliber defense and the hope that he can turn it around. However, it is strange that Hernandez’ woes are not just exclusive to him.

Just look at the list of Dodger second basemen over the last few years. First of all, the team has had no consistency at the position. Hernandez starting at second on Opening Day broke a six-year streak of the Dodgers having a different second baseman in the Opening Day lineup.

The Dodgers have had nine players with at least 100 plate appearances at second base since 2013. Of those, the ones that were impressive are Mark Ellis, Dee Gordon and Howie Kendrick. Also from that time is Nick Punto and Skip Shumaker, who were both decent role players.

It is the track record since Kendrick that the Dodgers really started to fall off, at least in offensive production, at the second base position.

Chase Utley was never that great for the Dodgers offensively, hitting .236 with a .696 OPS in over 1,200 plate appearances. However, his defensive prowess and clubhouse impact made him a valuable piece to obtain.

The guy that was supposed to fix the Dodgers’ second base hole, Logan Forsythe, was a massive flop. Forsythe was awful with the Dodgers and it is a good thing that Jose De Leon has not yet panned out for the Tampa Bay Rays or else every Dodger fan would be rightfully upset.

Forsythe showed flashes of being the player he was in Tampa Bay but the power numbers diminished and he became an offensive liability. Overall, he hit .218 with a .639 OPS as a Dodger.

Then the Los Angeles Dodgers rolled the dice with former all-star Brian Dozier last year and it actually looked like Dozier could be the extra right-handed power bat that the Dodgers needed. That was not the case after his hot start in LA as Dozier hit just .182 with just five home runs as a Dodger.

And then we circle back to Hernandez, who has not been great offensively thus far this season. While the Dodgers rank in the middle of the league in WAR, due to fielding, the team ranks second to last in batting average at second base since the start of the 2017 season.

The one silver lining? They also rank first in walk percentage. However, it is easy to see that the second base job has been a bit of a curse for the Los Angeles Dodgers as of late.