This past offseason, Kiké Hernandez left the Los Angeles Dodgers to join the Boston Red Sox after winning the 2020 World Series. Going back to his time with the Astros, he played the ultimate prank that we are all finding out about here in 2021.
In a recent piece by NBC Sports Boston’s John Tomase, Hernández shared the time he pranked his former manager while with the Astros organization. Here is the exchange:
“You’re a pretty good baseball player,” he told Hernández in their first meeting. “How’s your English?”
Hernández, who is perfectly fluent English said this:
“Well, you’re (expletived),” he said with a laugh. “And I said, ‘English class! English class! Very, very good!”
Hernández then got a translator for every interaction with DeFrancesco, wondering why the manager never noted that he didn’t require one to talk to the pitcher during mound visits.
Teammates could barely contain themselves at the length of the deception. Hernández finally broke character in a team meeting.
“We were going through a rough stretch and he pulled all the position players into his office and he was wearing us out, and in the middle of him yelling at us and cussing us out, I raised my hand and he goes, ‘WHAT?!? WHAT THE (EXPLETIVE) DO YOU WANT!??'” Hernández said, clearly giddy at the memory. “And I told him, ‘I just want you to know that I speak perfect English and that I’ve been (expletive) with you this whole time. He started laughing like, ‘I knew it! I knew it!’ and he couldn’t be mad anymore.”
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