Alex Cora Reveals New Defensive Plan For Kiké Hernández, Triston Casas

The Boston Red Sox are putting an end to the Kiké Hernández experiment at shortstop.

The veteran won’t be Boston’s everyday shortstop moving forward with Red Sox manager Alex Cora telling reporters prior to Tuesday’s game against the Colorado Rockies that Hernández will shift to playing more at second base and in center field, per multiple reports.

Hernández struggled mightily at shortstop with the Red Sox turning to him with the departure of Xander Bogaerts. Hernández played primarily in center field during his first two seasons with the Red Sox and his move to the infield has come with him committing a league-leading 14 errors in 52 games at shortstop this season.

And after Hernández, who isn’t in Tuesday’s starting lineup, made a throwing error that led to a Rockies run in Boston’s extra-inning loss Monday night, Cora decided a change was needed to improve the shaky defense his club has exhibited far too often this season.

“We need to be better on defense,” Cora told reporters, per The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey.

In an effort to improve their defensive play, Cora plans to switch things up at first base as well. Justin Turner will get more of an opportunity to play at the corner infield spot, taking reps away from rookie Triston Casas.

Cora said there’s no plan to send Casas down to Triple-A, hoping they can still help him progress defensively at the big league level.

“This kid, when he came up last year, we thought he was going to be a good defender,” Cora told reporters, per the Boston Herald’s Gabrielle Starr. “And there’s a few things that he’s not doing. We’re working with him.”

Turner will start his 16th game of the season at first base for the Red Sox on Tuesday night against the Rockies while Casas slides into the designated hitter role.

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