Nearly halfway through his one-year deal he signed this offseason, César Hernández has been nothing short of a delight for the Indians.
All of Hernández’s 114 at-bats with the Tribe have come as the lead-off batter and so far he’s been worth the $6.25 million he was signed for and then some. The 30-year-old second baseman has played slick defense in the field, ran the bases well, and he’s been one of the Indians’ only bright spots on offense, sporting a .281/.364/.430 slash and two home runs.
If I wanted to be sacrilegious and use in-season WAR — a slippery stat purpose-built to compare multiple seasons over generations, not a player’s contributions over a month of baseball — I would note that he has been worth exactly 1.