Who’s That Guy? 2026 MLB postseason edition

There’s no one on the Dodgers at this point who deserves "Who’s That Guy?" treatment. If they have a new face in the mix at all, it will be highly touted prospect Josue De Paula, off the bench. And yet they have the ultimate example of a player who makes viewers utter the question.

Kiké Hernández is pretty solidly this generation’s most disproportionate October scene-stealer — he’s That Guy in the same way as an actor with no starring credits but a hundred memorable bit character roles. He’s a player whose baseball fan Q score is entirely dependent on your postseason consumption.

A near-constant presence on the Dodgers, Hernández is the hype man, the quirked up player who seems like he would be a chill hang, the guy who plays any position, and the guy who crushes left-handed pitching. Last year, he became the guy who gets trucked by the guy making one of the biggest grabs in baseball history.

All those roles have earned him serious screen time. Hernández has taken more postseason plate appearances (328) than all but eight players since his debut 11 years ago. In that playing time? He has been Good. His .826 OPS is 15th among the 49 hitters who have taken at least 150 trips to the plate in the same span — behind 13 guys for whom the Hall of Fame is or was at one point a reasonable possibility, and Randy Arozarena. He’s three points ahead of Aaron Judge.

Who’s that guy? He’s someone who has made the most of the biggest moments. Over and over. Everyone else on this list would be thrilled to join him, even just once.

The bulk of today’s newsletter is devoted to players who might make their names nationally known over the next month or so, who might go from unheralded to hero, from promising to the prince who was promised. Will I ever match the inaugural edition of this exercise from 2020, in which I picked out mostly anonymous, hotel-quarantined, push-up-performing, cowboy-boot-wearing Arozarena as a potential playoff difference-maker? Almost certainly not! But we press on anyway.

Thanks to The War On Drugs for creating a soundtrack specifically for this segment.

Victor Mesa Jr., Rays outfielder

Even after a pretty unimpeachable 98-win season to stun the competition in a rugged AL East, it’s understandable if the Rays lineup doesn’t jump out at you. Junior Caminero, Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda, trade deadline addition Liam Hicks, and then who?

Victor Mesa Jr., that’s who.

If you’d heard of Mesa prior to this year, it was probably as the second fiddle to his ballyhooed brother Victor Victor Mesa. The Marlins signed both of them out of Cuba back in 2018, but this Victor Mesa (singular, second of his name) surpassed his sibling and gradually worked his way up through the minors. The Rays got him in a trade in February, brought him up for his MLB debut in May and benefited as he established himself as a key piece of their lineup, batting .260 with 14 homers and nine steals in 79 games.

The postseason amps up the competition level. The precise contours of that shift are difficult to put under the microscope, but one is very apparent: A greater share of all pitches will be zipping in faster. Being able to handle premium velocity is not everything, but it’s a nice trait when push comes to shove in October, one shared by some of the era’s most durable postseason bats: Bryce Harper, Max Muncy, Yordan Alvarez, etc.

So I took note that, among all hitters who saw at least 75 pitches over 97 mph in 2026, Mesa registered the best results, slashing .412/.524/.941 with three long balls. He’s also coming in red hot, with a 184 wRC+ in September ranking as a top 15 mark in the majors.

Garrett Mitchell, Brewers outfielder

Let me put this as plainly as possible: Mitchell is an absolute athletic freak. If Statcast were sentient, it would be making googly eyes at him from across the bar.