Kiké Hernández (4-5-25)

DV catches up with Kiké before first pitch between the Dodgers and Phillies. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're in Philadelphia and I'm joined right now by one
of my favorite Dodgers. You guys know him, love him,
and he not only is a great player, but he's
got a big heart. And that is the one and
only Keike Hernandez. Thanks a lot for the time. It's
been a great first nine games of the season for
you guys.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yeah, hi, Dave from Philadelphia East Coast. Yeah, you got
off to a great start. You know, the personal not
so much, but the team hasn't necessarily needed me to
play good to win games, so that's good. But yeah,
I mean, we all hear the noise. We are doing
a great job at canceling, shutting out the noise, and

(00:39):
you know, focusing on our twenty six man roster, focusing
on ourselves and what we do need to do in
between the lines to be successful, and so far we're
doing a good job of that.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
But it feels like you guys have done a good
job with everything else around you, and you yourself playing
a position that you don't really play a lot, and
that's first base. I'm not sure people will fully appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, I know, definitely, I I think i'm you know,
I usually i'm a chameleon. Defensively, I kind of adjust
to where I'm at, and right now I'm possibly thinking
so much about first base and I'm forgetting about you know,
what happens on the plate. But you know, I Freddie
has been you know, he's top five defender of the

(01:25):
position in the whole Big League. So my job, my
responsibility is to make sure that the team doesn't suffer.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Part of the reason why you're back with the Dodgers
and why everybody wanted you back was to enjoy the
fruits and the celebration of being a world champion. The
following year, you got your ring. I'm sure that was
exciting for you. And then on Monday, the Dodgers are
going to the White House.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah. No, second time through as a champ, first time
that I get to, you know, come back and be
part of all the all the celebrations of the previous year.
Of course I missed out and all of that in
twenty twenty one, So the White House, I feel like
being a Latino and being somewhat of a fan favorite. Uh.

(02:12):
It was kind of a loose lose situation for me
in terms of the White House. If I was here
in twenty twenty one, maybe my decision would have maybe
possibly been easier, but you know the fact that I
was in here, I need to be selfish and and
put myself and myself before anything else. I understand that

(02:33):
that I'm a role model and I'm you know, I'm
supposed to be a leader in the Latino community. But
at the same time, you know, as a little kid,
you see the World Series champ or NBA Finals champ,
all the you know, NHL, all these major sports. You know,
they win the they win the title, and they go
to the White House, and you know, this is one

(02:55):
of the things as a little kid when you dream
about winning the World Series, you know, you put yourself
in the situations. And here we are in the present
moment and a decision that is not really easy at all.
But you know, I've decided that I'm going to go
to the White House just because we are celebrating as
a team and we have a really good thing going on,

(03:18):
and I feel like if I say no, that kind
of becomes a distraction, not only for myself, but for
my teammates. I don't want to have any of my
teammates have to answer questions to the media as to
why I took a personal decision. So I feel like
me going to the White House is definitely not a
political thing. It's more of a you know, I'm there
to celebrate the title and I'm there to support my teammates. Yeah,

(03:40):
I mean, I don't want to go back, you know,
go ahead twenty years from now and regret my decision
of you know, not going to the White House. That's
that would have been twice that I missed out onto
the opportunity. So, like I said in twenty twenty one,
the team got to go, my teammates got to go.
I wasn't there because I wasn't part of the team.
I missed out on that opportunity. So I'm trying to

(04:00):
trying to make sure I don't miss out on anything
this year. And you know, I think mixing politics and
sports is never a good thing. So I am definitely
not making this a political thing. I'm just going to
be there for my team. I'm going to be there
to support and my teammates, not anybody else. And uh,
probably that's part of my reason why I'm going.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
No doubt, La loves you, KEYK Puerto Rico loves you.
That will never change. So you don't have to worry
about that. You just have to look good and be
yourself wherever the Dodgers go.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Well, those are two things that I tend to be
good at. Looking good and be myself. Uh, be myself
as something I pride on each and every day, regardless
of where I'm at, And who knows, maybe I'll pull
a k K stunt at the White House.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
Be on your toes. You never know what he might
have in his back pocket. Love you, KEYK. And like
I said, LA will never change how they feel about you. Uh,
you leave it all out on the field. You wear
your heart on your sleep and that's something that we
all appreciate.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Thank you, Dave, I appreciate you.