Jose Fernandez Is Baseball's Forgotten Stud
It's understandable why everyone has been obsessing with Clayton Kershaw, Noah Syndergaard, Jake Arrieta, Chris Sale and Stephen Strasburg so far this season. All five of those pitchers have been ridiculously good and deserving of all the accolades.
But there is one young starter that tends to get overlooked, even though he is young, talented, and continues to put up eye-popping numbers. He is baseball's forgotten stud.
Miami's Jose Fernandez continues to be amazing.
In 10 starts (60 2/3 innings), he's 7-2 with a 2.82 ERA, an outstanding fielding independent pitching (FIP) of 2.31, and an fWAR of 2.0, tied with Philadelphia's Aaron Nola for seventh-best among qualified starters this season.
Fernandez continues to be a strikeout machine, whiffing 13.35 batters per nine innings (K/9) this season, far and away the best mark in baseball (Strasburg is second at 11.44). Opponents are hitting just .216 off him, and that is with a higher-than-league-average batting average on balls in play (BABIP) of .347. He's the only pitcher among the top 20 in opponents batting average with a BABIP over .287.
On Thursday, he was scintillating against the Tampa Bay Rays, pitching 7 innings and giving up 1 run on 6 hits with 1 walk and 12 strikeouts.
Jose Fernandez strikes out 12 over 7 IP. Only Clayton Kershaw & Stephen Strasburg have more 10+ K games this season. pic.twitter.com/gkeQXfv2pJ
— Baseball Tonight (@BBTN) May 26, 2016
There has been some talk in recent days about the glut of strikeouts in Major League Baseball, and how the proliferation of the "K" has made the game a little less interesting. With fewer balls put in play, the "pace of action" has been hurt, or so say the critics. But don't tell that to Fernandez, who is the best strikeout pitcher in the game right now.
#Marlins Jose Fernandez has more career 12+ K games (5) than CC Sabathia (4). He has as many career 10+ K games (13) as Jim Palmer. He's 23.
— Ace of MLB Stats (@theaceofspaeder) May 27, 2016
Most Games with 10 Strikeouts - This Season
Clayton Kershaw 6
Stephen Strasburg 5
José Fernandez 4
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 26, 2016
Fernandez is clearly aided by his fastball, which sits in the mid-to-upper 90s, but it is his devastating slider/curve that has been almost totally unhittable this season. I mean, look at this thing for crying out loud.
Jose Fernandez, slider (home plate view) pic.twitter.com/8UMxIbWBO3
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 22, 2016
Fernandez says he throws both a slider and a curve, but most of the data seems to lump this pitch into one category, a curveball. And this year, opponents are batting just .138 against that breaking pitch. He's also piling up the swings and misses with that offering, as you might imagine.
Most Strikeouts With Slider This Season
José Fernandez 51 (6 today)
Chris Archer 41
Michael Pineda 40
Clayton Kershaw 39
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 26, 2016
Fernandez has been especially hot in his last six starts (38.0 IP) in which he has an ERA of 1.89, a FIP of 2.24 and 58 strikeouts to 14 walks. He doesn't get talked about much with the other starters mentioned above, but his stuff is just as good, and he has been just as dominant, as the rest of those guys.
So don't sleep on Jose Fernandez, who for some reason is turning into baseball's forgotten stud.