According to 2007 Temple High School graduate and former Wildcats standout Hernandez, their conversation went like this:
Flowers: “Are you ready to play pro baseball?”
Hernandez: “Yes, sir.”
Flowers: “How soon can you get down to Florida?”
Hernandez: “As soon as possible.”
If Hernandez had to think about whether he wanted to forgo his final two seasons of college eligibility and sign a professional contract, it was for all of about a nanosecond before he penned his name in Round Rock and then hopped on a plane in Austin.
“Man, it’s a wonderful experience,” Hernandez, 20, said this week from Sarasota, Fla., about his first two weeks as a pro player. “It’s a dream come true. I’ve been dreaming about this since the first day I picked up a baseball.”
Entering today, Hernandez had played in three games for the Reds’ team in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League in Florida. Playing third base (although he was signed as a shortstop), the San Jacinto College product had three hits in 13 at-bats and had scored two runs and driven in one.
There were some interesting circumstances surrounding Hernandez’s signing with the Reds, most notably that he was an undrafted free agent rather than a drafted player.
Hernandez was District 13-5A’s Most Valuable Player as a Temple junior after hitting 10 home runs, then signed early with the University of Houston and added eight homers and first-team all-district status as a senior with the Wildcats.
With an eye on remaining eligible each year for the major league draft, Hernandez chose to play for perennial junior college power San Jacinto in Houston instead of the crosstown Cougars. He had a solid freshman season with the Gators, starting at shortstop and hitting .277 with seven homers and 36 runs batted in.
Moving to third base as a sophomore, the 6-foot, 200-pound Hernandez hit .355 with 13 homers, 17 doubles and 47 RBI. He raised his level of production in conference play, batting .443 with seven homers as San Jac went 24-3 and captured the championship.
Asked about how he improved from the time he left Temple to his departure from San Jacinto, Hernandez said, “I’d say I’m a lot different player. I understand a lot more about the game. I have the same confidence.”
The Gators won the NJCAA Region XIV title to reach the Junior College World Series in Grand Junction, Colo., where Hernandez showed his stuff by homering in one victory and going 3-for-4 with a double in a 12-11 loss to eventual national champion Howard.
Playing in front of 8,000-10,000 fans per night, he hit .313 in four games as San Jac took fourth in the 10-team event and finished 45-11.
“That was a wonderful experience and a tough experience even though we had been through conference and regionals,” Hernandez said. “Putting the ball in play was my mindset because there was a bunch of people watching. It was a great environment.”
Despite his standout high school career and a pair of productive seasons at a top junior college, Hernandez went undrafted in June for the third consecutive year. And he admits that disappointed him.
“I had a pretty good season and I thought I’d get drafted,” Hernandez said. “Before the draft I was talking with the Washington Nationals and I had a workout, but I never heard back from them.”
The draft’s 50 rounds came and went without Hernandez’s name being called, so he figured he’d play out his second season of summer ball with the Bryan-based Bombers of the Texas Collegiate League and then probably go play for NCAA Division III Concordia University Texas in Austin.
But only nine games into his stay with Brazos Valley, Hernandez got the life-changing call from Reds scout Flowers: He was going to be a professional baseball player.
“It’s just the opportunity to play pro ball,” said Hernandez, who completed his contract June 21 and became the second former Temple Wildcat to sign with a major league organization in the last two years, joining Ronnie Gaines (Chicago White Sox).
Hernandez says his typical day in Florida has been long and packed with baseball - up at 6:30 a.m. and in the van at 7, then breakfast, practices, games (starting at noon local time), individual skills work and weight lifting until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. He shares a hotel room with a teammate.
Hernandez added that many of his teammates are from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic or Cuba and speak only Spanish, which he knows enough of to communicate.
“Right now they’re letting us play our game and seeing what we do,” Hernandez said of the Reds’ rookie-level coaches. “Then they’ll start critiquing us and giving us more instruction.
“You just have to go in and prove yourself,” he added. “I want to improve on everything and keep working hard.”
Hernandez said he’s plenty comfortable swinging a wood bat full-time in the minors because he always used wood during batting practice at San Jacinto and played parts of two seasons in the wood-bat TCL.
Now that he’s finally playing pro baseball, Hernandez made sure to thank and credit the many people who helped him achieve his lifelong dream - youth coaches Troy Williams and Tommy Boggs, Temple coach Larry Haynes, San Jacinto coach Tom Arrington and the Gators’ assistants, older brother David Jr., sister Angelica, mother Linda and especially his father, David Sr.
“I give thanks to my coaches and special thanks to my parents. They’re a big part of my life,” Danny Hernandez said. “My dad has always been my main coach and taught me everything about baseball."
gwille@temple-telegram.com
