Carlos Hernández

Who was Carlos Hernández?

Carlos Alberto Hernández Almeida [er-NAN-dez] is a former Major League Baseball catcher who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals.

Signed by the Dodgers as a free agent in 1984, Hernández became the second Venezuelan catcher in MLB history, following Bo Díaz. He made his major league debut in the 1990 season, basically as a backup for Mike Scioscia. A high skilled defensive player, Hernández spent his Dodgers career as mainly a back-up catcher to Scioscia and Mike Piazza, appearing in 230 games, including 133 starts. He signed as a free agent with San Diego and later was traded to the Cardinals.

In his first full major league season as a regular catcher for the Padres, Hernández batted .262, with 9 home runs and 52 runs batted in in 129 games played. In 22 postseason games, he hit .299 with one homer and two RBI.

Hernández finished his career batting .253 with 24 home runs, 141 RBI, 102 runs, 51 doubles, one triple, and one stolen base in 488 games played.

In 2004, Hernández started his career as a manager with the Toros de Tijuana in the Mexican League.