When the season opened, it was not a stretch to think that Cesar Hernandez would be one of the players most affected by the Phillies’ decision to start the clock on Scott Kingery’s big-league career. Kingery, after all, was almost exclusively a second baseman during his rapid climb through the minor leagues and a damn good one at that.
Manager Gabe Kapler, in fact, had planned to start Kingery at second base in the second game of the season at Atlanta after controversially playing the rookie in place of centerfielder Odubel Herrera on opening day. Hernandez, supportive of Kingery when he got a multiyear contract before ever playing in a big-league game, nixed the idea not by anything he said but through his opening-day actions.