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?

No Love At The Top For The Tampa Bay Rays

I love MLB Network and baseball tonight I think they have many great former players turn baseball personalities but they all routinley flash some sort of bias towards bigger market teams like the Yankees and Redsox while slapping the Tampa Bay Rays in the face. Just today on MLB Network I heard Kevin Millar say about an upcoming game between the Redsox and Orioles that “These are the 2 teams to watch in the AL East”. The problem isn't that he said that it's that I hear other analysts say those same exact things. The fact of the matter is not only are the Tampa Bay Rays one of the best and most exciting teams in baseball but they are also doing it on a shoe string payroll (57 Million $-28^th in baseball)

The Rays are such a fundamentally sound team and the proof is in the pudding in both pitching and hitting they rank in the top half of just about every major statistical category. They 6^th in runs (.475), 9^th in batting average (.262), 5^th in on base percentage (.330), 5^th in slugging percentage (.421). If the Yankees were putting up those kind of offensive numbers this year they would be getting praise from every news outlet and there would be countless guarantees of champagne baths in October but since its the Rays they get overlooked and don't get the credit they deserve and I for one am sick of it.

Tampa Bay's fan base or lack there of is partially the reason why I feel outlets like ESPN don't give them the love they deserve. This season once again they are struggling to put fannies in the seats averaging just 17,790 per game which puts them only ahead of the Marlins at 29^th in the league. Now I have been to Tropican Field it isn't the most ideal ballpark in america but its quirks make it nice to me but when it comes to stadiums in any sports it all comes down to location. For years I have heard Rays fans say that they need a ballpark built in the heart of Tampa Bay because just in case you didn't know they play in St.Petersburg and the park is in the middle of nowhere. Now We can only attribute attends problems to location for so long if a team is playing great baseball at some point more fans got to come out to the ballpark if their team is in first place.

At Tropicana Field on a nightly basis you get to see a great young nucleus of players take the field such as David Price,Evan Longoria, Ben Zorbrist, Matt Joyce, Desmond Jennings, Sam Fuld, Kelly Johnson and Yunel Escobar. The Rays are not a boring team to watch they score runs and play as a team and that’s what any fan would want from they're favorite baseball team.

Another thing that’s great about the Rays is that they have arguably the smartest manager in the game of baseball today in Joe Madden. His feel for the game is second to none and one thing you have to love about him is that he isn't afraid to challenge conventional wisdom if he thinks it work for the team and not many managers have the guts to do that. He also happens to be one of the more insightful guys in the game of baseball.

So as the Rays sit at the top of the AL East in front of the media darlings known as the Yankees and Redsox they continue to fly under the radar and receive minimal love at best from baseball experts in the media. I'm sure the players like it better that way but as a fan of the game I like to see a team get their just due. So ESPN give the Rays some more love and Rays fans get out to the ballpark and support your team it's quite sad. If people don't give them recognition now they might be forced to at the end of October.