Dodgers' Teoscar Hernandez opens up about unlikely friendship with Shohei Ohtani

01/01/2025 12:04 AM

Though they only spent a year together as teammates with the Los Angeles Dodgers, it seemed like Teoscar Hernandez and Shohei Ohtani instantly became friends both on and off the field.

The duo had a fun little dance they did together, would celebrate big plays together, and, when Hernandez achieved some of the biggest accolades of his career, it seemed like Ohtani was always close behind to celebrate the accomplishments, such as the Homer Run Derby winner, when his MVP-winning teammate was setting his own records.

But why? Well, Hernandez doesn’t really know, as the mutual respect harkens back to before they were even teammates, but when they both chose to call LA home in 2024, that bond deepened as they became closer friends, as he explained in an interview with Grandes en los Deportes.

“When we played against each other, for some reason, he always greeted me… since I arrived at training camp, he always greeted me,” Hernandez said via Dodgers Nation. “At that time, we felt a little more alone and found refuge in each other.”

Wow, that’s really interesting how things shake out, isn’t it? Ohtani always appreciated Hernandez because of his impressive game as a power-hitting, two-way outfielder, and when they needed each other most, they came together to become friends. With Ohtani locked up in LA for the foreseeable future, it’s nice to know that Hernandez will be right there alongside him for the title defense.

Teoscar Hernandez reveals why it took a while to re-sign with LA

Elsewhere in his interview with Grandes en los Deportes, Hernandez reveals what took so long for him to re-sign with the Dodgers, which was never about how much money he would earn but instead how his contact would be structured.

“More of a matter of how the contract was going to be structured…” Hernandez said via Dodgers Nation. “I have always said for me money is not the most important thing and I was simply waiting for them to structure me.”

So, really, the Dodgers could have locked this thing up in no time if they were willing to play by the rules Hernandez and his team laid out, right? No worrying? No Juan Soto drama? None of it? Well, while it’s hard to say either way, it’s clear the Dodgers and Hernandez always had a mutual interest in making their one-year marriage of convenience into something more permanent, and after checking every imaginable box, that gets to happen. Hernandez gets to stay in LA, in Dave Roberts’ system, right alongside his good friend Ohtani. If that isn’t a good old fashioned Hollywood happy ending a few miles away from Tinseltown, I don’t know what is.

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