Kiké Hernández sustained a significant tear of his left oblique on May 26, 2026, manager Dave Roberts said, removing the veteran utility player days after he had come off the season-opening injured list. Hernández was pulled after only four innings following a Monday return that lasted two games before the injury was diagnosed.
The timing stings: Hernández had missed the first 53 games of the season and in three swings back produced exactly what the Dodgers bought him to deliver. He hit an RBI double in his first at-bat of the season, followed by a two-run home run yesterday, and was 4-for-4 with three extra-base hits on the year when the team learned the extent of the oblique damage.
Hernández had started the past two games at third base while Max Muncy batted the bench with right wrist soreness, and the Dodgers had cleared room for his return on Monday by designating Santiago Espinal for assignment. The club re-signed Hernández to a $4.5 million deal before Spring Training, and he had returned to the active roster after undergoing elbow surgery shortly after the World Series.
Roberts used blunt language when asked about the injury. He said it was a "significant tear," and added, "It’s a bummer. He’s missed a lot of time and worked hard to get back, and added that spark that we had hoped." Roberts did not give a firm timetable for recovery, and when pressed he said, "I just feel bad for him because he wanted to be back with this, and he worked hard." He also offered a sliver of optimism: "It’s not a season-ending thing, so that’s something to be hopeful with, but yeah it’s just a bummer."
The roster move came the following day. On May 27 the Dodgers recalled Alex Freeland from Triple-A Oklahoma City to take Hernández’s spot on the active roster, and Roberts said Freeland "will get the majority of the second base playing time" now that he is back up. Freeland had been optioned on May 11 and was productive in Triple-A before the call-up, leaving Tyler Fitzgerald as the other infield depth remaining on the 40-man roster.
That thinness in the infield is the immediate problem for the Dodgers. The club is already managing the absence of Tommy Edman, who began a rehab assignment at Oklahoma City last night after missing all of the season recovering from ankle surgery. Meanwhile, Hyeseong Kim has cooled in May, hitting.217 with a.273 OBP and only two extra-base hits in 20 MLB games, limiting a lineup that will now be without the versatility and recent hot bat Hernández provided.
The contradiction at the heart of the move is simple: Hernández had just worked back into usefulness after a long layoff, then felt something and tried to play through it on Monday before being removed on Tuesday, and now the team must pivot again. Roberts declined to attach a specific timeline to the injury beyond his reassurance that it was not season-ending, leaving the Dodgers to balance short-term needs at second base with the hope Hernández can come back this season.
What follows is straightforward and consequential: Freeland will step into a regular role immediately and his performance will shape the infield makeup for at least the next several weeks, while Hernández’s recovery timeline—still unspecified by the club—will determine whether the Dodgers get back the roster flexibility they expected when they signed him for $4.5 million in spring. For now, the team has to replace the spark Hernández supplied in a dodger game and hope the veteran’s most recent setback does not spiral into a long-term absence.
