Is Kiké Hernández Hinting at Dodgers Return on Social Media?

Gabe Smallson | Feb 9, 2025

Sep 27, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Kike Hernandez (8) before the game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images / Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers free agent utility man Kiké Hernández has hinted at a return via social media posts.

Hernández posted a video with the caption "Walking through the open door" followed by highlights from the Dodgers 2024 campaign.

Walking through the open door pic.twitter.com/hsd4IOpva6

— Enrique Hernández (@kikehndez) February 9, 2025

There was also an Instagram post with Hernández donning a championship ring and flipping off the camera.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dodgers Nation (@dodgersnation)

This is potentially a very good sign for Dodgers fans.

The caption seems to be a clear nod to a quote Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said of the fan-favorite utility man of the Dodgers Fan Fest earlier this month.

“The door will never be closed on Kiké.” 

Hernández has also expressed his desire to return to the World Series champion Dodgers over the course of this offseason. 

“From the moment I got to L.A., it was a humbling experience for me to have a fanbase that embraces me and loves me the way that they do,” he said via The Shop. “The support. I’m a guy that I’m probably a better player than what the back of my card says numbers-wise. I bring more to the table than my stats, and the way that they love me, you’d think that I am the best player on the field each and every day I step on a baseball field.”

This is certainly high praise to the loyal fanbase, but Hernandez has proven why he gets this kind of support with his ability to come alive in the post season when the lights shine brightest. 

During the 2020 championship run, Hernandez played 48 games in the shortened season, while hitting .230/.270/.410, adding five home runs, and 20 RBIs. 

That postseason, Hernandez hit two home runs, four RBIs, and a recorded slash line of .214/.290/.464 in just 17 games helping L.A. raise their first World Series trophy since 1988. 

This most recent season saw the utility man bat .229/.281/.373 with 12 home runs and 42 RBIs in 126 appearances.

Hernandez came alive in the post season once again batting .294/.357/.451 and an OPS of .808. He had two October home runs, the first of which came in a decisive 2-0 victory in the series-clinching Game 5 of the NLDS against the San Diego Padres, and his second in a resounding 8-0 Game 3 defeat of the New York Mets in the NLCS.

Hernandez has been a key member of the Dodgers' last two championship runs and fans can only hope that he will once again join L.A. for the 2025 quest to repeat.