Cesar Hernandez to Make Surprise Major League Debut

Phillies’ infield prospect Cesar Hernandez has been yanked up from Lehigh Valley this afternoon.

Mar 3, 2013; Sarasota, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Michael Young (10) hits a two run homerunagainst the Baltimore Orioles scoring Cesar Hernandez (not pictured) during the top of the second inning of a spring training game at Ed Smith Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Hernandez is the guy who gets mentioned after Darin Ruf and Cody Asche as far as prospects who get people excited (but are not universally recognized as “exciting”) but gets mentioned before Leandro Castro.  He did make an appearance on Bill Baer’s Chase Utley Replacement Flow Chart.

The bad news is, he will be taking the place of Michael Young, who has been placed on bereavement leave.  This is obviously never not horrible, and the details of which are really inconsequential to the rest of us.  He’s doing something that clearly outranks baseball, and all that affects us, the legions of strangers, is that he will not be here.

Hernandez – the Phillies’ hitting prospect of the month in April – is hitting .309 with an .815 OPS right now, and should we see him out there with Galvis any time soon, could be a preview of the Phillies’ double play team of the future (with the third member being Ryan Howard, of course, whose contract will allow him to outlast six or seven generations of DP combos).