Kiké Hernandez jokes about LinkedIn profile after reporter questions his résumé

BOSTON -- There's no question that filling the space vacated at shortstop left by Xander Bogaerts is going to be a tall task for Kiké Hernandez. It would be a tall task for basically any player in the world to fill the shoes of a four-time All-Star, two-time World Series champion, five-time Silver Slugger, and face of a marquee franchise.

Hernandez may not be able to replace all or even most of that, but the 31-year-old has nearly a decade of big league experience under his belt, plus two seasons playing in Boston to acclimate him to the culture and expectations of the city and the team.

Nevertheless, a question asked of chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom from a reporter in Fort Myers called into question whether Hernandez is qualified to be Boston's starting shortstop this coming season. The exchange went a little viral.

Reporter: But Chaim, does he have the résumé to do that? I mean, he's not Xander Bogaerts. Does he have the résumé to be that guy?

Bloom: I don't think -- what do you mean in terms of 'does he have the résumé'?

Reporter: Xander's an All-Star, you know, and you kept talking about the culture of the team. It's just, you know ... two different things. And, you know, he's a guy that is a multiple-position player.

Bloom: Yeah. I don't think he needs to be anybody other than himself.

That video clip made the rounds on social media and must have found its way in front of the eyes of Hernandez himself, based on his Tuesday morning tweet.

"Anybody know how to use LinkedIn?" Hernandez tweeted. "Need help with my resume."

As for his actual résumé, Hernandez has hit .238 with a .721 OPS in just under 1,000 plate appearances for Boston over the past two years, playing center field, shortstop and second base. That's obviously not quite the .301 average and .848 OPS over the last two seasons by Bogaerts, who won the Silver Slugger both years and was a Gold Glove finalist at shortstop last season. (Hernandez also did hit .408 with a 1.260 OPS in 11 playoff games for Boston in 2021. It's a good spot on the résumé.)

But as Bloom said, the expectation is for Hernandez to be Hernandez, not for Hernandez to be Bogaerts. So Hernandez likely has some time before he really needs to hunker down and learn the ins and outs of LinkedIn.