Fish out of Water

In what was a forgetful season for the Miami Marlins in 2013, finishing dead last in the NL East with a National League worst record of 62-100, 21-year old pitcher Jose Fernandez was one of the lone bright spots for the struggling franchise. After boasting an ERA of 2.19 and a 12-6 record in 28 starts while being named to the NL All-Star squad last season, the Cuban born Fernandez who was shutdown in 2013 after pitching 172 1/3 innings, went on to take home NL Rookie of Year honors in what the Marlins were hoping would be a glimpse of the future. A future for the time being appears to be a little cloudy. Fernandez would see a similar start to his 2014 campaign, leading the league in strikeouts and among the league leaders in WHIP before being named April's NL Pitcher of the Month for the 20-20 Marlins. But on Monday, it all came crashing down.

Despite the precautions the Marlins have taken during Fernandez's young and brief big league journey, setting an innings limit during his rookie season, the team was unable to prevent their darling ace from falling victim to an arm injury. Following a May 9 start on the road against the San Diego Padres where he was hit hard, allowing six hits and five earned runs in five innings, Fernandez experienced some discomfort in his right elbow which an MRI later revealed to be a tear in the ulnar collateral ligament. After meeting with team doctors, it was learned that Fernandez would need to undergo Tommy John surgery to repair the ligament, thus putting an end to his 2014 sophomore campaign. For the Marlins, the news is devastating as Fernandez is not only their best player and one of the premiere pitchers in all of baseball, but he's a fan favorite. And for a ball club that has struggled to fill seats since opening the gates to their new ballpark in 2012, the absence of Fernandez will hit that much harder.

Though there's been a laundry list of young pitchers that have seen their 2014 season come to an end already this season such as Atlanta's Kris Medlin, Tampa's Matt Moore and Oakland's Jarrod Parker among others, as well as towards the end of last year as was the case for Mets phenom Matt Harvey, the injury to Fernandez is the most surprising considering how well the Marlins groomed and pampered him, setting up an innings limit and keeping a close eye on his pitch counts. Not to mention the clean history of never sustaining an arm injury in his past. With a 12 to 18 month expected recovery time for their star pitcher, all the Marlins can do is wait it out and hope for the best. Still in the process of rebuilding the franchise, the Marlins who weren't expected to make a whole lot of noise coming into the season, boast the best home record in all of baseball at 17-5, thanks in large part to their starting pitching which will now be without its leader. With Fernandez no longer in the running for the NL Cy Young Award which many including myself thought he would end up winning this season, L.A.'s Zack Greinke looks like an early candidate to potentially prevent teammate Clayton Kershaw from winning the hardware for a third consecutive season.


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