Félix Hernández
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Seattle Mariners — No. 34 | |
| Starting Pitcher | |
| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
|---|---|
| August 4, 2005 for the Seattle Mariners | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through October 1, 2006) |
|
| Record | 16-18 |
| Strikeouts | 253 |
| Earned run average | 3.96 |
Félix Abraham Hernández (born April 8, 1986 in Valencia, Venezuela) is a baseball starting pitcher for the Seattle Mariners. At 20 years of age, he is widely considered the Mariners' top pitching prospect and one of the best in baseball. He throws a fastball that has been clocked as high as 100 mph, along with a curve and a changeup. All three are considered potential strikeout pitches. Hernández also possesses an equally deadly slider that the team rarely allows him to use, out of concern that it might injure his arm.
Hernández has been given the nickname King Felix, a title that matches the moniker of teenage basketball phenom LeBron James. The USS Mariner weblog invented the nickname in July 2003[1], when Hernández was just starting out in the minor leagues.
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[edit] Discovery as a prospect
Hernández was first spotted by Luis Fuenmayor, a part-time Mariners scout who saw him pitching at age 14 in a tournament near Maracaibo, Venezuela. Fuenmayor recommended Hernández to fellow scouts Pedro Avila and Emilio Carrasquel, who were impressed with the youngster who could already throw 94 mph. The Mariners continued to follow Hernández for over a year, but baseball rules prohibit teams from signing players to contracts until after they have turned 16.
After graduating from high school, Hernández finally agreed to his first professional contract. Mariners director of international operations Bob Engle signed Hernández as a nondrafted free agent on July 4, 2002. Hernández received a large signing bonus of $710,000, although he said the Mariners were not the highest bidder. Other teams trying to sign him included the New York Yankees, the Atlanta Braves, and the Houston Astros, with the Braves reportedly offering the most money. One reason Hernández chose the Mariners is because his idol, fellow Venezuelan pitcher Freddy García, was pitching for the team at the time. His agent, Wil Polidor, also attributed the decision to the influence of Hernández's father Felix Sr.
[edit] Minor league career
The following year, Hernández came to the United States and began pitching in the Mariners' minor league system. In 2003, Hernández tore through Class-A with a 7-2 mark in Everett and Wisconsin. Returning to his native Venezuela to pitch in the winter league there, he held his own at 17 years of age against competition that included established major league players.
Hernández was named the Mariners' minor league pitcher of the year in 2004, a season that also saw him make an appearance in the Futures Game. He started with Inland Empire in the California League, before being promoted to Double-A San Antonio, and finished a combined 14-4 with a 2.95 ERA and 172 strikeouts in 149 1-3 innings pitched.
At the beginning of in 2005, Baseball America listed him as the No. 1 pitching prospect in baseball and No. 2 overall behind Delmon Young. Hernández continued his success in 2005 with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers in the Pacific Coast League, posting a 9-4 record with a league-leading 2.25 ERA and 100 strikeouts in just 88 innings. He was selected for the Triple-A All-Star Game but did not participate as he spent a month on the disabled list with shoulder bursitis. He was also named PCL Rookie of the Year and Pitcher of the Year.
[edit] Major league debut
Soon after returning from his injury, Hernández was called up to the major leagues by the Mariners. He made his debut on August 4, 2005, in a 3-1 loss in a road game against the Detroit Tigers. At 19 years, 118 days, he was the youngest pitcher to appear in the major leagues since José Rijo in 1984. Hernández earned his first major league win in his next outing on August 9, 2005, pitching eight shutout innings in a 1-0 victory at home over the Minnesota Twins. Over his first several starts, he registered a streak of 112 batters faced before he allowed his first extra-base hit, a double by Jermaine Dye of the Chicago White Sox.
In 12 starts Hernández posted a 4-4 record with 77 strikeouts and a 2.67 ERA. With 84 1-3 innings pitched, he exhausted his rookie eligibility. After the season, he became the focus of a disagreement over the possibility of his pitching in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Although Hernández was placed on a provisional roster by his native Venezuela, the Mariners objected, citing his earlier injury and expressing concern about the stress on his arm from adding this competition to the demands of a full season in the major leagues at such a young age. Their appeal to the WBC technical committee was eventually upheld.
When he arrived in the major leagues, Hernández was given uniform number 59. In 2006, he switched to number 34, the same number Freddy García (since traded to the Chicago White Sox) had worn as a Mariner.
[edit] 2006 season
In his first full season in the major leagues, Hernández sometimes struggled while occasionally showing flashes of the potential that had generated such hype. His achievements included a few more personal milestones. He threw his first career complete game on June 11, beating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by a score of 6-2.
On August 28, once more against the Angels, Hernández registered his first complete-game shutout, needing only 95 pitches and allowing five hits while picking up four strikeouts. The game, which lasted only 1 hour, 51 minutes, was the shortest in the history of Safeco Field. This Mariner victory also snapped a record 20-game losing streak against teams in their own division. Curiously enough, the last time the Mariners had beaten an AL West divisional rival had been Hernández's first complete game against the Angels.
Concerned about avoiding possible injury to their young pitcher, the Mariners declared that they would limit the number of innings Hernández pitched to 200 (counting both the regular season and spring training). This required them to skip his turn in the rotation a couple times as the season went on, after the Mariners fell out of contention. To allow him to make one last start at the end of the year, the team decided to raise the limit to 205. His 191 regular-season innings were still the most on the team, and he finished 12-14 with a 4.52 ERA. His 12 victories and 176 strikeouts also led the Mariner pitching staff.
[edit] References
- Andriesen, David. "Mariners prospect Felix Hernandez 'untouchable'". Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 29, 2004.
- Morosi, Jon Paul. "Big cast was involved in courtship of Felix". Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 31, 2005.
- Schwarz, Alan. "Teenage pitching debuts". ESPN.com, August 5, 2005.
- Stone, Larry. "Felix king for a day". Seattle Times, August 29, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Baseball Reference statistics Comprehensive Stats
- ESPN profile News, Articles, Stats
- Unofficial Fansite Career Blog, Stats, Forum, Chat
- Minor League News feature
- U.S.S. Mariner Mariners and General Baseball Discussion
