Red Sox: Joe Kelly compares Kiké Hernandez to Brock Holt as a leader

Former Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly heaps praise on Kiké Hernandez

It’s been a long winter for Red Sox Nation as we’ve all sat by waiting for Chaim Bloom and his team to do, well, anything. This offseason hasn’t been like anything we’ve seen in recent times where players are flying off the board and truckloads of cash are backing up to people’s houses. The biggest move Boston has made this offseason was the signing of Kiké Hernandez and a former teammate of his couldn’t be happier.

Former Red Sox and current Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly has plenty of experience with both Boston and Hernandez. The fireballing righty spent four and a half of his nine-year career with the Sox and then went to Los Angeles in free agency ahead of the 2019 season. Kelly was a guest on WEEI’s “The Baseball Show to be Named Later,” with Rob Bradford and Steve Perrault yesterday and he had nothing but positive things to say about his former teammate.

"“He is a step in the right direction in that regard,” said Kelly when talking about adding personality to the Red Sox’ clubhouse. “And, I bet he’s not listening but I’m going to say this … Brock Holt is not going to like this but I’m going to put this out there: Kiké is an athletic version of Brock Holt.”"

Before you throw your computers out the window let’s take a second to think about what Joe said. We all love Brock Holt, and I’m sure there’s a good portion of us that would love to see him retire as a member of the Red Sox, but Kelly isn’t wrong here. Hernandez is the superior athlete and has shown that over his time in the Majors. Kiké was essentially signed to be the replacement for Holt and in many areas, an upgrade.

The righty would continue to speak more about the type of person that Hernandez is and not so much the type of player. We all know that the utilityman is quality on the field and in the batter’s box, but he offers plenty to this team off the field as well. That’s one thing that Kelly mentioned that I think we can all agree on is that this team wasn’t much fun without Brock, and he feels that Hernandez can bring that spark back to the clubhouse.

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We had a little bit of that fun in an otherwise miserable season during 2020 with Alex Verdugo being in the lineup every night. This opens up another door as Verdugo and Hernandez also played together in Los Angeles so they already have that chemistry with one another and can light the clubhouse up with energy.

"“I can only imagine,” said Kelly when the topic of how different the Red Sox’ clubhouse became without guys like Holt. “The good thing is that when people are moping around Kikè is always the guy who is like, ‘Hey, pick head out of your ass.’ Or, ‘Pick it up!’ He will bring energy. That’s huge.”"

Comparing Hernandez to Holt should open the eyes of Red Sox Nation as that’s some high praise among these parts and I think Kelly knows that. He’ll still have to earn his stripes with the fanbase but getting a big seal of approval from the President of the Joe Kelly Fight Club is a step in the right direction. And as we all know from this past season, all it takes is one play to instantly have the fans in your corner, just ask Kevin Pillar.

I’m sure Chaim Bloom is still working on his plan for how he wants this roster structured for Opening Day, but adding Kiké Hernandez is a solid move. His versatility makes him a big weapon for Alex Cora and his energy in the clubhouse could be a shot in the arm of this exhausted team. I look forward to seeing what the utilityman is capable of as he’ll surely be seeing plenty of playing time in 2021.