Félix Hernández

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Félix Hernández
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 2006)
Innings     283.1
Strikeouts     265
ERA     3.84
WHIP     1.23
Record     17 - 18

Félix Abraham Hernández (born April 8, 1986 in Valencia, Venezuela) is a baseball starting pitcher for the Seattle Mariners. He is already considered the Mariners' top pitcher at only 20 years of age. Highly touted as a prospect, he is widely considered to have the potential to turn into one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Hernández 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. He 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 NBA 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., a trucking business owner who handled negotations for his son.

[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, 2005

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] First full season, 2006

For his first full year in the major leagues, Hernández arrived in spring training out of shape and had his preparation for the season interrupted by shin splints. He recovered in time to begin the season in the starting rotation, where he sometimes struggled but occasionally showed 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 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.

During the offseason Hernández returned to his parents' home in a modest Valencia neighborhood, while awaiting completion of a house for himself, his girlfriend and daughter. At the team's insistence, he did not pitch in the Venezuelan winter league, unlike his older brother Moises, also a pitching prospect trying to crack the majors. A Seattle Times profile of his life in Venezuela, with its relaxed daily routine, raised eyebrows among those who remained concerned about his conditioning. The team later explained that he had been specifically instructed to rest for two weeks after the season. He then resumed a workout regimen until returning early to the United States, where he was described as being in much better physical condition. Upon his return in January, he was scheduled to begin a throwing program in advance of spring training.

[edit] 2007 season

Based on his improved condition and a successful spring training, the Mariners indicated that in 2007 they would no longer limit the number of innings Hernández could pitch, focusing instead on pitch counts to avoid overuse. With it clear that he was the best pitcher on the staff, and because the Mariners had failed in the offseason to sign top free agents such as Barry Zito and Jason Schmidt, Hernández won the honor of being named the team's Opening Day starter. He became the youngest pitcher chosen for this assignment since Dwight Gooden in 1985. He immediately justified it by pitching eight innings of a 4-0 victory over the Oakland A's, in which he allowed only three hits and two walks while setting a career high with 12 strikeouts.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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