CBT847

Cristian Hernández, the North Side Baseball #10-ranked prospect, had an absolutely monster week at the dish for the South Bend Cubs. The shortstop went 10-for-22 (.455) with four runs scored, four doubles, a home run, three RBI and three walks over six games vs. Peoria (St. Louis Cardinals), earning Midwest League Player of the Week honors. Hernández began the series by ripping off four-straight two-hit games before being held hitless in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader. He wouldn't be kept quiet in Sunday's finale, piecing together another two-hit performance. Though early in the season, Hernández's torrid start is an encouraging sign for a prospect that was ranked as high as #2 in the Cubs system in 2021 and was an overall top 100 prospect entering the 2022 season. Through South Bend's first nine games, Hernández has posted a slash line of .417/.475/.667, good for a 1.142 OPS, to go along with four doubles, a triple, a home run and six RBI. He has multi-hit efforts in six of those ballgames and leads the Midwest League with 15 total hits. After a slow start to his professional career, Hernández made strides last year at Class-A Myrtle Beach, earning a 2024 Carolina League Post-Season All-Star selection. He earned a late-season promotion to High-A but hit just .229 in 23 games at South Bend. It's early, but Hernández is beginning to show flashes of why he was so highly touted when the Cubs signed him for $3 million in 2021. While his current walk rate of 7.5 percent is nearly half of what he posted last season (14.6%), but he has cut his strikeout rate to 17.5 percent (from 22.2%) and raised his ISO to .250, currently more than double last year's mark (.120). If Hernández is able to maintain his hot start to the season, he should see a promotion to Double-A in the near future.