Topic: Anderson Hernandez

Anderson Hernández (born October 30, 1982 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a middle infielder in Major League Baseball with the Houston Astros. He made his major league debut in 2005 for the Mets.

Hernández is a 5'9" switch hitter with decent speed. He was signed as an undrafted free agent at age 18 by the Detroit Tigers in 2001. In the minor leagues, Hernández showed poor patience and high strikeouts typical of a teenager and didn't rise past single-A until 2004. In his first season, he batted .264/.303/.389 with 34 stolen bases in just 216 at-bats. However, he progressed slowly. In 2002, playing in High-A ball, he showed poor hitting skills, batting just .259/.310/.339. The next season was even worse. Hernandez struggled to hit above the Mendoza line, (.229/.278/.295) and stole just 15 bases. But the next season started off well for him. After batting .295 with 11 RBI in about 100 AB, he was called up to Double-A Erie where he batted .274 with 5 home runs, 29 RBI, and 17 stolen bases. After that season, he was traded to the New York Mets for catcher Vance Wilson who had become expendable after the Mets signed Ramón Castro.

With the Mets out of playoff contention in 2005 and Hernández hitting over .300 in both Double-A and Triple-A, he was called up to the majors in mid-September but went 0-for-14 before finally getting his first hit in the last game of the season. Due to the knee injury of Kazuo Matsui, Hernández was the starting second baseman for the Mets to start the 2006 season, but was soon injured and placed on the 15-day DL.