Jose Fernandez Is A Big Time Pitcher

The Miami Marlins are by no stretch of the imagination this year a good baseball team but like any struggling team they have a few bright spots and the brightest happens to come in the form of rookie 21 year old right hand pitcher Jose Fernandez. Here is some background Fernandez.

• Drafted 14^th overall in 2011 by the Marlins
• Never picthed above A ball before this season started
• Became only the 7^th player in MLB history under the age of 21 to record at least 8 strikeouts in his debut since 1916
• Named an to the all-star game at 20 years old
• Struck out Dustin Pedroia and Chris Davis at the all-star game.

So odds are you aren't familiar with Jose Fernandez but that’s ok because most of the baseball world is slowly but surely figuring out who he is. Prior to the season starting the Marlins had a shortage of arms in the starting rotation so they rushed Fernandez to the big leagues and named him as the opening day starter. I was very critical of that move because this was a guy who hadn't pitched above A ball and now he his the opening day starter against the New York Mets, it's a pretty big jump. Fernandez quickly put to bed any doubt of good he would be for the rest of the season with a performance of 5 innings pitched 3 hits, 1 earned run and 8 strikeouts.

When you watch him pitch Fernandez does a great job establishing his fastball command and sets up his secondary pitches very well. Many baseball experts have compared Fernandez to Seattle Mariners all-star Felix Hernandez. People who aren't familiar with Fernandez might disagree but if you watch both of them pitch they have a lot of similarities. Fernandez like King Felix sets up hitters very well and can bury you with multiple pitches. He can thrown it by you with his fats ball or paint the outside corner with his curve ball. The Comparison is valid.

Statistically when you look at Jose Fernandez he is even more impressive. He has an 8-5 record on the worst team in the national league. The Marlins are not an offensive juggernaut in fact its hard to get run support when the whole team collectively has scored the 363 runs the entire season which ranks them dead last in baseball. So to be 3 games over 500 as a pitcher for them is impressive. Recently in the last few weeks he did something very historic. In his July 28^th and August 2^nd starts he faced 2 quality teams in the National league leading Pittsburgh Pirates and then then Cleveland Indians who are in the playoff hunt. In his start against the Pirates he has a very good outing going 8 innings giving up 2 earned runs on 5 hits with 13 strikeouts for a win. You think to yourself “ wow he can't pitch any better then that” well your wrong. Very next start against the Indians he goes 8 innings only allows 3 hits, collects 14 strikeouts and shuts out the Indians. So do the math 14+13=27 Jose Fernandez in 2 starts struck out 27 hitters. Thats just ridiculous for a guy his age to be doing that. In doing that he put his name in some elite company (see tweets below).

Jose Fernandez is the 4th-youngest pitcher with consecutive 13-strikeout games since 1900. Check out the list: pic.twitter.com/vNtAP655jj

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 3, 2013

As you can see Fernandez put his name in same company with some former all-stars but he also has his opponents in aw of him. Rays manager Joe Maddon who is one of the best in baseball praised Fernandez.

— Joe Maddon (@RaysJoeMaddon) May 31, 2013

 So the word on Jose Fernandez is finally getting out and if healthy it looks like the Marlins have an ace for years to come. The only question is how many years before he gets traded?

What If Rick Vaughn Was Real?

Over the course of everyday I ask myself many obscure random questions and yesterday was no different. After a long tiring day I came back home and was watching some TV on the couch flipping threw my local TV listings when suddenly I saw that MLB network was showing Major League 2. Now I have seen the movie hundreds of times, the Cleveland Indians were a team full of personalities like Willie Mays Hayes, Pedro Cerrano, Jake Taylor and most notably Rick Vaughn. So I asked myself the question “How would Rick Vaughn be if he was a real baseball player in the MLB and not just some fictitious character”? So I thought about it and I decided to take it to a blog post, so here it is my Rick Vaughn MLB breakdown…..If he were real.

The Ballplayer

Rick Vaughn by Charlie Sheen was a pitcher and he embodies the essence of who Sheen is and that’s rough around the edges, hardcore, and plays by his own rules. Rick Vaughn was a high velocity pitcher in Major League 1 he was known for his control problems but people knew he had an arm on him and could throw heat with the best of him. So as a starter Rick Vaughn in real life would be a spectacle to watch. He is not afraid to challenge you inside outside and if you piss him off he will hit you with a pitch and doesn’t mind getting ejected this guy played in the California Penal League for Christ sakes.

In Major League 2 after losing some velocity on his fastball he was moved to the bullpen as a closer. When he was the closer he could throw as much gas as he wanted. So Vaughn sounds kind of like John Smoltz if you ask me. This guy if real would have John Smoltz like stuff but with a John Rocker personality.

The Marketing Tool

If you have seen anyone of the “Major League” movies then you would know the Rick Vaughn comes out to The Troggs-Wild Thing. With that song as his trade mark music marketing opportunities for Vaughn would be endless. Not to mention that hair do and the specs glasses he wears. Rick Vaughn as a marketing tool would be unlike anything we have ever seen before because not only did he have the edgy side to him like in Major League 1 but he also had that rich clean cut image in Major League 2 when money got to his head. So Rick Vaughn in interviews and commercials would be as unpredictable as lotto numbers.

Final Thoughts

So if real what would Rick Vaughn bring to Major League Baseball? He would bring lots and lots of publicity. The MLB lacks the star power of the 90’s and Vaughn would be the perfect guy to push the barriers of baseball super stardom and bring baseball the mass appeal it so desperately deserves at this present moment. Vaughn would have a long Major League Career he would be up and down but this guy would be a front line starter and the person you want to give the ball to with the game on the line. Fans would love him, media would embrace him and baseball would benefit from him……If only John Rocker had panned out.