Hernandez begins his first season with the Ducks and 11th in professional baseball. The catcher has previously played in the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees organizations, reaching as high as Triple-A. In 754 games with the four clubs, he batted .276 with 106 homers, 467 RBIs, 379 runs and a .784 OPS. He was named an MiLB.com Organization All-Star on three occasions (2017, ’18, ’21) and was selected to play in the MLB Futures Game in 2019. The 28-year-old spent time in 2025 and 2026 with Pericos de Puebla and Leones de Yucatan of the Mexican League, combining to play 14 games. Hernandez was originally signed by the Rays as an international free agent from Colombia in 2014.