Comparing The Careers and Earnings of Kiké Hernández and Jurickson Profar

There are two players who have played against each other for years. One was born in Curaçao in 1993 and the other in Puerto Rico in 1991. One was signed as an amateur free agent and the other was taken in the sixth round of the 2009 draft. One made his major league debut at age 19 as a potential phenom, while the other did so at 22 as a potential utility player.

The first player is Jurickson Profar, who came into the league as an infielder, with the hope that he would become the face of the Texas Rangers franchise. The second is Enrique (Kiké) Hernández, who came up with the Houston Astros as a utility player for 42 games before he was traded to the Miami Marlins to finish his rookie campaign. When that season ended, Hernández was traded again, this time to the Dodgers.

Now that each player has a dozen seasons in the books, let’s take a look at the tale of the tape:

As of today, they are within $8,000 of each in career earnings ($41.415 million vs. $41.423 million). Note, those figures do not include playoff shares – an important distinction.

While the stats look very similar, it is in October where their careers diverge. Profar has played in 27 post-season games while Kiké has been in nearly four times as many (103). Hernández has 80 hits, sixteen of which has been homers, while Profar has only 23 hits, with just one dinger.

Profar’s playoff slash line: .258/.340/.292; Hernández’s: .272/.339/.486.

Arguably Profar’s biggest post-season moment was when he robbed Mookie Betts of a home run – and then taunted the Dodger Stadium fans – in Game 2 of the 2024 National League Division Series.

Arguably Hernández’s biggest post-season moment was when he hit three home runs against the Cubs in Game 5 of the 2017 NLCS at Wrigley Field (including a grand slam). However, that was just one of the many times Hernández has excelled under the bright lights of playoff baseball.

There was Game 2 of the 2021 American League Division Series, while playing for the Red Sox against the Tampa Bay Rays. Kiké had four extra-base hits, including three doubles and a homer in a 5-for-6 performance with three runs scored and three knocked in.

The next game, back in Boston, he went 3-for-6 with another home run.

After the Red Sox dispensed with the Rays, in Game 1 of that year’s ALCS, Hernández – playing against the team that drafted him – went 4-for-5 with two home runs in Houston. And then he had two hits in each of the next two games of that series.

It’s not just with the bat that Kiké has proved valuable in the post-season. In the fateful fifth inning of Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, with no outs and runners on first and second and the Dodgers trailing 5-0, Will Smith hit a ground ball to the right of shortstop Anthony Volpe. Hernández made sure to line himself up in Volpe’s throwing lane to third, causing the throw to be low and offline, allowing him – and all of the runners – to be safe. We all know what happened next.

And let us not forget his glove. In bottom of the ninth inning of Game 6 of this year’s World Series, with the Dodgers down three games to two, leading 3-1, with the tying runs in scoring position, Hernández perfectly played a low liner off the bat of Andrés Giménez, thus beginning the first 7-4 double play to end a World Series game.

And we cannot forget his brain. Moments before Kiké started the aforementioned double play, he had the presence of mind to immediately throw his hands in the air when Addison Barger’s deep drive lodged under the left field wall, forcing the umpires to call it a ground-rule double. Because of the ruling, Myles Straw had to go back to third base, taking a run off the board, and Barger had to go back to second, setting up the historic double play moments later. Center fielder Justin Dean looked back over his shoulder and saw Hernández signaling the ground rule, and followed suit. Had he not seen his teammate, Dean may have tried to pick up the ball, potentially nullifying the rule, allowing the run to score and Barger to move to third with one out. Kiké’s instant processing of the rule was a decisive factor in the outcome of Game 6.

And yet, for all of his acumen, he was almost a goat. In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7, with the game tied and the bases loaded, Ernie Clement hit a high drive to left. Hernández raced back thinking the World Series would end on a ball hit over his head, only to be run over by teammate Andy Pages, who made the game-saving catch. The near disaster turned into just another highlight on Kiké Hernández’s post-season résumé.

Now back to the comparison. Hernández is currently a free agent. He is most likely waiting on the Dodgers to complete their off-season machinations with a potential signing of Kyle Tucker or a trade of Teoscar Hernández. He played last season on one-year $6.5 million contract, after playing on a one-year, $4 million contract the season before. If he is lucky, he will match the $10 million he got from the Red Sox in 2023. And yet Profar, the player with a similar regular season pedigree but fathoms from Hernández when it really counts, still has two years and $30 million left on the three-year, $42 million deal he signed with the Braves prior to the 2025 season. Of course, Profar forfeited about $5.8 million of that while he served an 80-game suspension for the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Regardless, he still has $30 million guaranteed while, at present, Kiké has nothing.

Considering the totality of their careers, it just doesn’t seem fair.

PLAY BALL!!