We’re two episodes into the newest season of Saturday Night Live, and rookie cast member Marcello Hernández is already making big waves.
On Saturday (October 8), Hernández made his SNL debut as himself during the Weekend Update segment, where he gave a little sports commentary on Latino players in Major League Baseball.
When Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost asked Hernández if he was a baseball fan, the lone Latino cast member talked about how his roots are connected to the game and why he believes Latino ball players are the most entertaining.
“My mom is from Cuba, and my dad is from the Dominican Republic, so, obviously, they’re divorced,” Hernández said with a boyish grin. “But it also means I love baseball. Latinos dominate baseball. I’m not saying that we’re naturally better. I’m just saying that we’re more fun to watch.”
Hernández then asked the audience who they would rather watch playing baseball, “Tanner from Kentucky or a guy they call Papi, and no one knows why.” When Jost brought up that non-Latino New York Yankees player Aaron Judge had just set a new single-season American League home run record by hitting his 62nd home run, Hernández admitted he was impressed but wanted to see more emotion.
“He hits the 62nd home run, puts the bat down gently, and then it’s a couple of high fives and straight to the dugout,” he said. “When a Dominican guy hits a home run… he throws the bat to a different dimension.”
Viewers seemed very excited about Hernández’s debut with his skit circulating across different platforms. One Twitter user who said she has watched SNL for many years said she had “never seen someone come in with as much confidence and charm as Marcello Hernández.”
Even people who don’t watch SNL but caught Hernández’s baseball bit said that if anything were going to make them turn the channel back to the long-running sketch comedy show again, it would be Hernández.
One Twitter user even labeled him as “a star” already.
Even Hernández tweeted about how much fun he had.
Here’s to hoping Hernández has a great season and is given the screen time he deserves – unlike former SNL cast member Melissa Villaseñor.