When it should have been a week of excitement with the fans hanging on the edges of their seats, as their teams fight for the last playoff spots, it was a week of mourning over one of the games’ most promising young power pitchers. Jose Fernandez prior to this season hadn’t made a big impact yet, as he had been injured almost the entirety of the 2014 and 2015 campaigns. But, after leading the NL in K/9 this season, and leading the Marlins’ in a tight wild card race into the middle of September, Jose Fernandez has taken not only the baseball world, but the sports world by storm.
Before his unfortunate/devastating passing last weekend, he had recorded 253 strikeouts in just 182 innings pitched this season. What made him such a phenomenal power pitcher was his rare, but dominating combination of a fastball and curveball (which was very fast for a curveball at 85 mph). He averaged 101 pitches/game, as well as a quality start percentage of 66%. In his rookie year (2013) he had similar numbers, but his future was unsure going into this year’s campaign, as he struggled with Tommy John surgery recovery in 2015.
During the 2015/2016 offseason, the Marlins made big moves like hiring Don Mattingly and signing Wei-Yin Chen; Giancarlo Stanton got healthy, and Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuno bettered their game. On paper the Marlins looked promising and played like it until falling out of the wild card race in mid-september. Without Fernandez the Marlins would not have been able to perform at a playoff competitive level, as with him pitching, Miami won 18 games. His pitching WAR was a 2.7, and Fernandez struck out 34% of all the batters he faced when the league average was 20%.
The Marlins prior to the 2016 campaign were in rebuild mode building around Stanton and Fernandez. Pitching is the key to winning championships, so Jose Fernandez was the key to the Marlins becoming contenders, and now without him, the Marlins may have to go back into rebuild mode as Fernandez’s presence was that important. Jose was not only a sight to see on the mound, turning into one of the best power pitchers the game will ever see, but an absolute great face to represent the MLB.
