Having too much of good thing is a nice problem for an MLB team.
The Blue Jays find themselves in this position with their outfield, with the likes of Curtis Granderson, Steve Pearce, Randal Grichuk and Kevin Pillar offering everything Toronto needs for its seven, eight and nine.
Then there's Teoscar Hernandez. The 25-year-old followed up his September call-up last year with a strong spring training performance, highlighted by four home runs, 16 hits and 13 RBI.
Teoscar the tank is mashing again. 💪🏽💪🏽 pic.twitter.com/sbnXcFMGRc
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) March 22, 2018
The Jays' management has taken notice.
"I'll tell you, he couldn't play any better than he's playing now. That even goes back to last year, when we called him up in the month of September," manager John Gibbons told the Toronto Star.
Is Hernanadez's consistently impressive game enough to earn him a spot on Toronto's 25-man roster? Barring any injuries to the aforementioned outfielders, the answer is almost certainly no.
Hernandez is not without his flaws. His pretty batting numbers from this spring take a turn in the "SO" category, where 17 strikeouts have accumulated over 46 at-bats. Last fall when he got the call-up, the Dominican Republic-native struck out 36 times on 88 at-bats. Do those numbers outweigh the 16 runs, eight home runs and 20 RBI Hernandez racked up during that time?
Gibbons doesn't think they should.
"I think he's going to be a good major-leaguer for a lot of years. I don't know how this is all going to shake out in the next couple weeks," Gibbons said. "But he's earned the right to be on the team, I can tell you that, if you're going on performance. That's all I've got to say."
Hernandez was in a similar situation in Houston last season before he was traded to Toronto. There was a surplus of young Astros talent, pushing him off the lineup sheet.
Though the same seems to be happening with the Jays, except with older players, Hernandez doesn't see a strong parallel.
"In Houston I knew I would not have a lot of chance(s). I see more opportunity here for play, to show my skills and it makes me happy," Hernandez said. “I know it’s baseball, it’s a business. They’ll do whatever they have to do to make the team better. If I start at Triple-A, I’ll work even harder to get called up again.”
Grichuk is battling a nagging rib injury which will largely affect Hernandez's chances to make the opening day roster but that's generally where the opportunity starts and ends.
While Hernandez understands his role as the next man up, Gibbons and Jays GM Ross Atkins understand the resounding benefit of having a player of his stature eager to make the trip from Buffalo to Toronto.
“There’s no doubt in my mind he will make an impact. For him to make the team, I think he knows, he recognizes, that he’s not the best complement if we’re healthy. We’ve already been banged up in spring training so there’s certainly the scenario that we’re not 100 percent at the start," Atkins said. "This game is about depth. When you have someone that you don’t want to send to Triple-A, that’s when you know that you have real depth.”