Jose Fernandez Is The New Favorite For Rookie Of The Year

After his 2 starts this week, Jose Fernandez has become the front runner for National League Rookie of the year. For a Marlins team that has been horrendous this season, Fernandez has been a model of consistency. At the age of 21, Jose Fernandez has already put his name in the same sentence of elite pitchers in the game today.

Strength In Numbers

In his rookie season, after only pitching 1 year of class A-ball, Jose Fernandez is 3^rd in ERA (MLB) with an ERA of (2.30), behind only fellow rookie Matt Harvey (2.27) and Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw (1.72). With a 10-5 win/loss record, the Marlins ace has a higher winning percentage of (.667) than Kershaw (.650). KJ In the category of strikeouts per 9 innings. Fernandez at (9.73) strikeouts per 9 innings is higher than Adam Wainwright (8.24) and Felix Hernandez (9.36). To go along with all of that his opponent batting average of (.188) is better than MLB strikeout leader Yu Darvish (.191).

Those stats would be impressive for anybody but for a rookie playing on a very offensively challenged ball club they look even greater. To appreciate how great Fernandez has been this season you have to really know how bad the Marlins offense is. So like I stated earlier, the rookie phenom has a 10-5 record, which is impressive playing for the Marlins. As a collective offense, the Marlins don't strike fear into the hearts of many opponents, ranking dead last in runs scored (415) and hits (997). We are in late August, heading into the last month of the season, and the Marlins still are the only team that doesn’t have 1,000 hits as a team yet. So the fact the Jose Fernandez has so little to work with from his offense and is posting the numbers he has, speaks volumes to what he is accomplishing in his rookie season.

Puig Who?

Last Monday against the red hot fellow Cuban rookie sensation Yasiel Puig and the LA Dodgers Jose Fernandez validated himself to the baseball world as the 2013 National League rookie of the year. Marlins Park was more filled than usual with both Cuban rookie phenoms facing off against each other, Miami's large Cuban community came to see which one would shine the most. Like most of the baseball world they came to see Puig but were left impressed with Fernandez as he shut down the Dodger order going 6 innings, giving up only 4 hits, 1 earned run and collecting 8 strikeouts in a 6-2 Marlins victory over the Dodgers. Puig went 0-4 against Fernandez with a strikeout, looking very uncomfortable. At times Puig didn't even look like a big league hitter. He even had more hits then Yasiel hitting a single to center field in the 3^rd inning. So against baseball's hottest name Fernandez dominated and proved against the media's favorite rookie why he is the real rookie of the year.

No Contest

Barring a massive meltdown in September, Jose Fernandez will be the National League rookie of the year. If he maintains this kind of consistency through the whole entire month of September, he may even get some Cy Young consideration. One series that could really do a lot for Fernandez as far as Cy Young consideration goes is the September 27-29 series vs Miguel Cabrera and the Detroit Tigers. If he gets the start, he will be taking on baseball's best offense in Detroit, which leads the league in runs scored at (615). Not to mention the best hitter on the whole planet Miguel Cabrera, who won the triple crown last season. If he has a start against them like he did against the Dodgers, then it will be tough to not get Cy Young consideration. As far as the rookie of the year award goes, he has already won it, he's been the most consistent rookie from start to finish. Plus I think it would be incredibly hypocritical of baseball to give Puig the rookie of the year award, when they didn't let him participate in the all-star game. As well as giving it to him over a guy who made the all-star team and has been here all year long. So it will be interesting to see if baseball can stay consistent as far as what they believe in. If Jose Fernandez doesn’t win rookie of the year then I believe that all this is fixed and they are Puig lovers.

Great Day For A Ballgame!

It won't be this crowded

Going to keep this short and sweet its Monday I got 1 week before college starts so this is a great time to take in baseball game. Don't go to that many Marlins game now compared to when they played at Dolphin Stadium but I think I picked a good one today.

The Marlins are horrible this year and don't have much going for them on offense but we have a lot of nice young pitchers. At the forefront of our plethora of young arms is rookie sensation Jose Fernandez who continues to prove why he is one of the best young pitchers in the game. Tonight he is tasked with taking on one of the hottest teams in baseball in the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Match up I’m really looking forward to seeing all night is Fernandez vs Yasiel Puig . Puig is the hottest thing going in baseball right now outside of Miguel Cabrera so to see arguably the 2 best rookies this season match up is interesting. Along with all that Fernandez has to attack the rest of the Dodger order with guys like Matt Kemp andAdrian Gonzalez. So hoping for a great game, a Marlins win and a few Hanley Ramirez strikeouts....LETS GO MARLINS!!

How Yasiel Puig In 2013 Reminds Me Of Miguel Cabrera In 2003

Yasiel Puig has provided an instant boost to the morale of the Dodgers since he set foot inside the Dodger clubhouse. They were struggling at the beginning of June at 24-32 with the season slowly but surely going down the tubes- enter Yasiel Puig and fast forward about a month and a half later and the Dodgers now sit atop the NL West division at 53-47 a lot of the Dodgers turnaround could be attributed to the energy that Puig has brought to the line up. It has made players around him start playing better and the Dodgers look like the team people expected before the season started. Now I have seen this same type of energy and impact before and it happened to come in the form of Miguel Cabrera 10 years ago back in 2003 for the world champion Florida Marlins.

Although Puig now and Cabrera then are 2 different kind of players the energy and impact both of them brought to their respective ball clubs is vastly similar. Puig on June 3^rd made his major league debut vs the San Diego Padres for a struggling Dodgers team at 24-32 lingering towards the bottom of the NL West. Puig went 2-4 and had an outfield assists to end the game on a double play resulting in a Dodgers win. Miguel Cabrera on June 20^th 2003 got his 1^st start in the big leagues although the production of that game isn't as great as Puig's what he did produce matches Yasiel. Cabrera went 1-5 in that game but that 1 hit which was his 1^st in what is now a great major league career was a walk off home run in the 11^th inning off of Al Levine which gave the Marlins a 3-1 win over the Devil Rays. From that point forward the Marlins looked like an entirely different ball club. They played a lot looser and with a lot more energy and after May 23^rd 2003 the Marlins compiled a 72-42 record which was best in baseball and led them to a 91-71 finish and a wild card berth which ultimately led them to a World Series championship over the New York Yankees. Cabrera had a lot to do with the Marlins great production after May 23^rd. Puig Like Cabrera in 03 has been a huge reason that the Dodgers since his arrival on June 3^rd are 30-15 up to this point.

Puig and Cabrera like I said earlier are much different players and Puig right now at 22 is 2 years older than Cabrera in 2003 he was 20. The energy they both brought to the teams they played for are very alike in my eyes. The only question now is if the Dodgers make the playoffs will the Impact that Puig has had here in 2013 wind up in resulting in the same way as Cabrera in 2003 when the Marlins won the world series?? I guess only time will tell.

"Puig Mania"

Several days ago I sat down to watch Sunday night baseball for the first time in a long time just to catch a glimpse of Young Cuban phenom Yasiel Puig who has been tearing it up for the LA Dodgers as of late. I've heard tremendous things about this guy reading all of the baseball scouts raving about his tools as a ballplayer.

As he stepped into the box against San Francisco Giants lefty Madison Bumgarner I watched every little detail of this guy as a hitter. He worked the count to 1-1 and he had displayed solid plate discipline laying off a borderline second pitch. Watching what occurred on the 3^rd pitch was beautiful and impressive to watch a young player do. On a pitch low and away he churned those hips and swung at the ball. He stayed inside of it and hit it to the opposite field over the right field fence at Dodger Stadium for the7^th home run of his very short career. Many young players you see in the Majors have a problem with any pitches low and away and he just made it look eazy on that opposite field home run, he looked like the 2^nd coming of Yoenis Cespedes with that swing.

Although Puig is off to a hot start keep in mind that 20 games is still a very small sample size and that the MLB will make adjustments to him the question is how will he adjust back once the necessary adjustments are made, that’s when we find out how good he is. Looking at Puig statistically one thing bothers me which is his walk to strike out ratio which is 3 to 17. That shows me that he still has much room to grow in terms of plate discipline as do pretty much all hitters his age do.

With all of that said if he stays hitting at a high level and continues to increase his numbers I think he deserves some consideration for the All-Star game. You look at his current stats of 34 Hits, 14 runs scored, 7 homeruns, 14 RBI's while hitting 442. in 20 games that is just for lack of a better word “NASTY”. He is hitting on a torid pace and making a huge impact for the LA Dodgers. To put his numbers into perspective check out how he stacks up with Bryce Harper and Mike Trout in their 1^st 20 games of their rookie seasons in the tweet below.

Yasiel Puig has more HR (7 vs 5) & RBI (14 vs 13) in his 1st 20 games than Mike Trout & Bryce Harper in their 1st 20 career games combined.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 25, 2013

Puig is making history right now and is just plain entertaining to watch. He will eventually struggle as do all players do in baseball at some point but for now just enjoy “Puig Mania”.

Five Random Cards #1

Recently I Got a PWE from my main man Kevin from “The Diamond King” as part of graduating from high school. I also completed a trade with my man Dustin from Cootveal and Vealtones so they're are cards all around my house. So I decided to start a new series of posts called “5 random cards” where I will randomly grab 5 cards and just put them in a blog post. So here we go.

Card #1 Score 1991 Ken Griffey Jr.

Ken Griffey Jr. in 1991 was in the process of starting one of the greatest careers in baseball history in his 3^rd season in the show hit 327. banged out 22 home runs along with 100 RBI's. Griffey was on his way to becoming one of the most feared players in the game along with collecting his 2^nd gold glove and silver slugger awards in 1991.

Card #2 Topps Gold Label 1999 Cliff Floyd

Going to my 1^st Marlins game in the same year this card was manufactured I got a chance to see Cliff Floyd live in person and he was a big guy 6 foot 5 inches tall along with 220 pounds and a vicious left handed swing. Cliff never became the star that most people thought he had potential to be but still put together is fair share of nice seasons. Like in 2001 where he hit 317. along with 31 home runs and 103 RBI's earning the only All-Star appearance of his career.

Card #3 Fleer 1990 Eddie Murray

Eddie Murray had a long 21 year career many his best years with the Baltimore Orioles. People forget though he had some solid years in LA with the Dodgers. In 1990 the same year as this card Eddie hit 330. with 26 home runs and 95 RBI's which earned him a silver slugger that year. So remember Eddie as an Oriole but don't forget the Dodger version either he was pretty good.

Card #4 Topps 1994 Jeff Conine

In 1994 Jeff Conine had already earned the “Mr.Marlin” mantle and wore it proudly playing the game the right way. Conine was apart of both Marlins World Championship teams in 1997 and 2003 . In 1994 though he earned his 1^st of 2 all-star appearances and hit 319. that season which was the highest of any season in his career.

Card #5 Upperdeck SPX 2002 Juan Encarnacion

Not the best player on the 2003 world championship team but certainly an overlooked part of it. People like to focus on Miguel Cabrera, Josh Beckett, Dontrelle Willis and many others but Juan Encarnacion was a very valuable piece. In 2003 he had a career year when in 2003 hit 270. with 19 Home runs and 94 RBI's. He was also solid on defense with a perfect 1.000 in 156 games he played and didn't win the gold glove that year.

Hanley-wood

Wednesday marked the end of an era in Miami. Hanley Ramirez was traded to the L.A Dodgers prior to the Marlins contest vs. Atlanta Braves. His legacy in Miami was an up and down one he was a MVP canadite at times and other times he was detrimental to the teams success kicking balls into the outfield not playing hard at times. He got managers fired and he never fulfilled that 7 year 70 million dollar contract as the marlins franchise player. He arrived into the Dodger clubhouse around 4:00 Midwestern time he was greeted by teammates who were as equally happy too see him as he was to wear Dodger blue. The 3 time All-star was all smiles and said “I’m happy too be here”. That statement means a lot because I as a Marlin fan can tell you that a happy Hanley is a Productive one. Being in L.A could help reenergize the former batting champ back to form hitting in the same line up with Matt Kemp and Andre Eithier not having to be the face of a franchise. Hanley certainly looked like a changed man when I watched him play Monday night vs. the Cardinals. I noticed a few things that I hadn’t seen all year from him. He was a a lot more aggressive earlier in the count. He also had a more compact swing and that front shoulder wasn’t flying out so it allowed him to put more quality swings on the baseball. In his 1st ever at bat with his new ball club Hanley got those arms extended and drove the ball to center field which went off the Busch stadium wall and resulted in his 3rd triple of the season. Later on in the 6th inning he stayed back kept his hands nice short and compact and he smacked a ground ball single into center field to score Mark Ellis collect his 1st Dodger rbi. The Cardinals would eventually come back and ultimately win the game in the 12th inning 3-2. Despite the loss if im a fan of this ball club im excited to have Hanley in the middle of my order. I feel like L.A is a perfect fit for him and his personality, he loves attention and getting the limelight. When the ball club returns back home he will get to play on one of baseballs biggest stages Dodger Stadium in a city full of gilts and glamour. Hanley’s a gilts and glamour kind of guy so I think he will fit right in. If he keeps his head on straight he could be a huge asset to the team. If the Dodgers ever win a championship and he is a big part of it who knows instead of “Hollywood” we might see “Hanley-wood"