Hernandez Solid in Major League Debut

Marco Hernandez arrived at the ballpark on Sunday afternoon like any normal day except one noticeable difference - his name was in a Major League lineup for the first time in his career.

Ranked the Red Sox' #9 prospect by New England Diamond Digest, the 23-year old Hernandez made the most of that opportunity by putting up a highly impressive performance on a day in which Toronto Blue Jay's starter, Aaron Sanchez, was absolutely dealing.

After drawing a walk in his first at-bat, Hernandez was able to break up Sanchez's no-hit bid in the fifth with a broken-bat single for his first Major League hit. After following that with his first career steal, Mookie Betts drove him in with an RBI single for his first career run scored.

That run would be the only Red Sox offense until a Travis Shaw home run in the bottom of the ninth inning cut Toronto's lead to 5-3. Hernandez was in the on-deck circle as Ryan Hanigan lined out to third base to end the contest.

Despite the fact Hernandez hit .579/.577/.792/1.369 with six doubles and seven RBIs in 14 games during Spring Training, he was still surprised to get the call to the show so early in the season.

"I expected [the call] middle of July when they play against the National League to pinch-hit for the pitcher," Hernandez told reporters after the game.

Nonetheless, his performance on Sunday was enough to impress even the battle-tested veterans in the Red Sox' lineup.

"He did an excellent job for us," advised Xander Bogaerts. "He looked solid offensively, defensively, [he] ran the bases well [and] created a run for us."

Hernandez was largely unnoticed by fans after the Red Sox acquired him as the player-to-be-named-later in the Felix Doubront deal with the Chicago Cubs, but began to pop up on many people's radar screens after an impressive start to the 2015 season with the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs where he hit .326/.349/.482 with  five home runs, four triples and 21 doubles in 68 games.

That was good enough to earn Hernandez Eastern League All-Star honors, in which he was voted "Top Star" of the 2015 EL All-Star Classic at Hadlock Field.

Immediately after the All-Star game Hernandez was promoted to Triple-A Pawtucket where he cooled off slightly, but was still impressive considering his age and fast climb through the Minor League ranks. In 46 games for the PawSox last season, Hernandez hit .271/.300/.409 with four homers and 22 RBIs.

He began this season with Pawtucket hitting .286/.375/.429 in six games before earning his promotion to Boston.

Although it may be too early to call Hernandez a superstar in the making, he does possess the tools necessary to become an effective Major League player. With speed on the base paths and the versatility to play multiple infield positions, Red Sox fans may be hearing a lot more of his name in the future.