Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Yurendell DeCaster will try to earn a spot on the Pirates' roster as a utilityman. Click photo for larger image. Related articles Pirates Notebook: Hernandez reports after tending to father Pirates Q&A with Dejan Kovacevic Stats Geek: SS Wilson's glove work is first rate

BRADENTON, Fla. -- For all those 62 athletes taking the field today for the Pirates' first full-squad workout of the spring, there will be one opening for a position player to crack the 25-man roster:

Backup utilityman.

Last one off the bench.

The guy who can play nearly anywhere but often does not play at all.

The role offers not much glamour, to be sure, but Jose Hernandez and Yurendell DeCaster, the two who will go head-to-head for it, sound eager to claim it.

"I'm ready to go," Hernandez said. "My goal is to make this team."

"I want to make it to the majors," DeCaster said. "That's everybody's dream."

It has been a reality only for Hernandez, though, who enters the duel with three sizable advantages:

He is 36 and will enter his 14th season of Major League Baseball, having played 1,502 games with a .252 average and 165 home runs.

He spent 2004 under manager Jim Tracy in Los Angeles and was a pivotal contributor in the Dodgers' West Division title that year. Although he came off the bench behind Robin Ventura and Olmedo Saenz, he still took 211 at-bats and hit .289 with 13 home runs.

DeCaster, by comparison, is an overaged prospect at 26 and has yet to reach the majors.

Still, Hernandez is assuming nothing, which probably is wise given that he is in camp on a minor-league contract and cannot collect his $850,000 salary without making the team this spring.

"Whether I know Tracy or not, I've got to show I can do the job," he said.

The Dodgers, Washington Nationals and Florida Marlins offered Hernandez the same type of contract the Pirates did after he batted .231 with six home runs in 84 games last season for the Cleveland Indians. He chose the Pirates, he explained, largely because of Tracy.

"Even though I was the last guy on the bench, I played a lot for him. If I wasn't starting, I was going in on double-switches. I know he liked that I could play anywhere."

That is the greatest asset Hernandez brings at this late stage of his career: He can fill all outfield and all infield slots.

"There aren't too many guys who can play seven positions, much less play them well," Tracy said. "He's a very valuable weapon to have."

Hernandez's great shortcoming always has been the strikeout. He has whiffed an average of 145 times per 162 games and three times topped 175 in a season.

That included 2003, the year he came to the Pirates in perhaps the most lopsided and unpopular trade in franchise history. General manager Dave Littlefield, under orders from ownership to slash payroll immediately, sent third baseman Aramis Ramirez, outfielder Kenny Lofton and cash to the Chicago Cubs for Hernandez, infielder Bobby Hill and pitcher Matt Bruback.

Making matters worse for Hernandez, he took Ramirez's spot as the Pirates' starting third baseman even as Ramirez was blossoming into perennial All-Star material in Chicago. Hernandez struggled immensely, batting .223 in the season's final two months and was released that fall.

"I wouldn't say being traded for Ramirez was the part that was tough," Hernandez said. "It was getting traded twice that year and moving my family. I tried to do my best, but I don't think you can do that much in two months."

DeCaster was able to do quite a bit in two months this offseason, being named Baseball America's Winter Player of the Year after a torrid run through the Venezuelan League. He batted .325 with 17 home runs in only 209 at-bats, roughly one every 12 times up.

"It's funny because I went there to work on my defense," he said, laughing. "But I wanted to learn how to be more patient, too. Early in my career, I would swing at everything."

DeCaster had shown flashes of power previously, including his 11 home runs while hitting .280 for Class AAA Indianapolis last season. But nothing like this.

"Yeah, I think I surprised myself a little bit," he said.

Like Hernandez, DeCaster is versatile, having experience with all outfield -- except center -- and infield slots.

Many in the Pirates' management describe him as the most improved player in the organization. He is a gifted athlete, by all accounts, whose skill set was nearly barren when he entered the system as a Rule 5 draft pick five years ago.

"It's taken him awhile, but there's not a lot he can't do," director of player development Brian Graham said. "It's just a matter of putting it all together."