Kiké Hernández announces he's back with Dodgers

On the eve of the Dodgers' first official spring workout, Kiké Hernández himself broke the news that many L.A. fans had been waiting to hear all offseason long: He's back for his 10th season in Dodger blue.

Hernández signed a one-year, $4.5 million contract to return to the Dodgers on Thursday. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, recently re-signed righty reliever Evan Phillips was placed on the 60-day injured list.

Having won three World Series with the Dodgers, Hernández is looking to help his team to another in this year's three-peat bid. As the fan-favorite utility man wrote on Instagram, "3 in a row has a nice ring to it!"

Last year, Hernández became the Dodgers' franchise leader in postseason games (92 and counting). He has been a serviceable regular-season player during his 12 years in the big leagues, with his ability to play all around the diamond often a more valuable asset than his bat. But the 34-year-old from Puerto Rico truly comes alive as "October Kiké," having posted an .825 OPS in his postseason career compared to .708 in his regular-season career.

Hernández's offensive numbers were down overall in 2025, but he was dealing with a hurt left elbow for much of the year. He spent about two months on the injured list and hit just .203 with a .621 OPS in 93 games.

When October rolled around, Hernández was in manager Dave Roberts’ starting lineup for every single game, making 17 postseason starts (13 in left field, plus two apiece at third base and center field).

While the overall numbers didn’t look too different from the regular season (.250/.290/.359), Hernández did enjoy some big moments. He put together back-to-back multihit games in the NL Wild Card Series against the Reds, smacked a key two-run double in the Dodgers’ comeback win over the Phillies in Game 1 of the NLDS and possibly saved the team’s season by turning the game-ending double play from left field against the Blue Jays in Game 6 of the World Series.

In the offseason, once he became a free agent, Hernández announced that he had surgery on the elbow. While he did not initially share the procedure or a timeline for a return, he later said on Adam Ottavino's Baseball & Coffee show that he underwent an extensor repair that will likely keep him out for "a month or two" of the regular season.

Hernández, like Phillips (Tommy John surgery) and righty reliever Brock Stewart (shoulder surgery), will be an in-season reinforcement for the back-to-back World Series champions once he returns to full health. His signing is one of the finishing touches on a Dodgers roster that kept its core intact while bringing in star power (Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz) to address its biggest holes.