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Teoscar Hernández is closing in on a rehab assignment as he works his way back from the left hamstring strain that landed him on the injured list at the end of May. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Hernández will head out on a rehab assignment after completing at-bats and playing in a simulated game, per staff reporting at DodgerBlue.com. That’s a real, tangible step forward.

Hernández has been one of the more important bats in our lineup since signing with the Dodgers ahead of the 2024 season. He was a key piece of the 2024 World Series championship roster, delivering the kind of right-handed power and outfield presence this team needed after years of being left-hand dominant. He followed that up by re-signing with the club, cementing himself as a core part of the everyday group. Before the hamstring injury, Hernández was doing what he typically does — mixing stretches of loud contact with the occasional cold spell, but providing enough pop and run production to justify his spot in the middle of the order. Losing him for the better part of three weeks has been a noticeable absence, particularly with the outfield depth already being tested this season.

Left hamstring strains are always worth monitoring with a player like Hernández, who relies on explosive movements in the batter’s box and on the basepaths. The fact that he’s progressed to simulated-game action and is now on the doorstep of a rehab assignment suggests the recovery has gone smoothly. Roberts framing it this way — not hedging, not adding caveats about setbacks — is encouraging. When Roberts is vague, that usually means there’s concern. This felt straightforward.

The timing matters for us. We’ve been grinding through a stretch without a full complement of our best hitters, and getting Hernández back in the outfield and in the lineup would go a long way toward restoring some normalcy. With Will Smith still working his way back and other pieces shuffling around, plugging Hernández back into his usual spot shores up a lineup that has been patchworked together for weeks. A rehab assignment likely means a few games in the minors to get his legs under him and see live pitching, so we’re probably looking at a return to the big league roster sometime in the next week or so, depending on how he feels.

I like where this is headed. Hernández moving through the process without any reported setbacks is the best-case scenario at this stage. Once he’s back, our outfield picture gets a lot clearer, and Roberts can start building out the lineup card the way he actually wants to instead of managing around absences every night.

Source(s): Staff (DodgerBlue.com) | First reported: June 18, 2026 3:21 PM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers