The Red Sox have pulled outfielder Enrique Hernandez from his rehab assignment with Triple-A Worcester, the club announced Tuesday.
Hernandez, who has been sidelined since June 8 with a right hip flexor strain, made just one rehab appearance for the WooSox at Polar Park last Friday. He was slated to play on Saturday as well but felt too much discomfort in his hip to do so.
With that, the Red Sox have opted to shut Hernandez down for the time being. The versatile 30-year-old underwent testing conducted by team officials on Monday and is slated to see a specialist outside of Boston later this week, per manager Alex Cora.
“There’s a good chance he’s going to go see a doctor, not in Boston, during the week,” Cora told reporters (including MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo) on Tuesday. “He doesn’t feel great so we have to back off and now see if there’s something else that’s going on that we haven’t seen in our testing or if something else came up. I think we’ll know more now during the week.”
After signing a two-year, $14 million deal with Boston last February, Hernandez emerged as the Red Sox’ everyday centerfielder and proved to be a sparkplug in October by posting a 1.260 OPS in 11 postseason contests.
This season, however, the right-handed hitter struggled to the tune of a .209/.273/.340 slash line to go along with four home runs and 24 RBIs across 51 games (238 plate appearances) prior to getting hurt in early June.
There is a chance that Hernandez’s prolonged absence will result in Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom pursuing additional outfield help ahead of next month’s trade deadline to supplement the likes of Alex Verdugo, Jarren Duran, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Rob Refsnyder.
In the meantime, the Sox will have to continue on without Hernandez, which, for Cora, is a disappointment.
“It sucks because we felt, at one point, that he was making strides,” said Cora. “Obviously, that’s why we let him play. Now, we just have to be very patient.”
(Picture of Enrique Hernandez: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
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