Los Angeles Dodgers midseason awards: Most disappointing hitter

The Los Angeles Dodgers head into the All-Star Break with the best record in baseball and some awards to give out from the first half of play.

The Los Angeles Dodgers may have ended the first half of the MLB season on a three-game losing streak but the team is still the best in baseball and the consensus favorites to win their seventh World Series.

There is still a lot of baseball left to play but the Dodgers have a deep and flexible roster that has a great pitching rotation and one of the scariest offenses, when healthy.

The Dodgers are the team to watch in the second half and start the second half with a tough road trip against the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies. Those seven games will be tough and the Dodgers need to at least post a winning record to show their place as the MLB’s best team.

Before then, we have some awards to give out for the first half. We could give out the run of the mill awards; MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, etc. However, those awards are pretty obvious and thus, we decided to go a different route.

This is the start of our midseason awards series that will span across the All-Star Break, starting with none other than the most disappointing hitter of the first half.

Most disappointing hitter: Enrique Hernandez

The most disappointing player for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first half of the season is none other than the super utility himself, Enrique Hernandez.

Hernandez has not been the worst Dodger perse, as his defense has been extremely valuable and he has been better offensively than, say, Austin Barnes. However, considering the expectations around Hernadez heading into this year, especially after his hot start, it is hard to not be disappointed.

Hernandez started receiving a lot of praise at the end of last season as he was one of the hottest hitters on the team and manager Dave Roberts even stated that he saw him as an everyday second baseman, no longer a utility guy.

Unfortunately, Hernandez could not carry that hot bat into the postseason and was one of the reasons why the offense could not produce at times in the playoffs.

Despite those hiccups, Hernandez entered 2019 with the same high expectations that Roberts placed on him a year ago and it actually looked like he was living up to the promise. Being an everyday player appeared to be great for Hernandez, who did not have to worry about playing time.

Hernandez was hitting .300 20 games into the season with four homers and 11 RBIs. Granted, nobody should have expected him to hit the 32 home runs and 90 RBIs that he was on pace for, but the fall from grace was quick and lasted long.

Just eight days later he was hitting .238 after a cold spell and has never really recovered since. Hernandez is hitting .196 since that hot start and enters the break with a .218 average.

His .286 on-base percentage is still decent but is nothing special and Hernandez has been unable to put together a consistent decent run since. Heck, we have not even seen the patented Enrique Hernandez game where he goes off for two home runs and six RBIs randomly on a Tuesday.

We love Hernandez and we know he can be better. The one bright side is that Hernandez is hitting as bad as he could and the Dodgers offense has still been great for the most part.

Once he gets it going and A.J. Pollock and Corey Seager return, the Los Angeles Dodgers offense will be terrifying. For now, he is the most disappointing player of the first half.