Today we lost one of the game’s biggest and brightest stars at only age 24 in a tragic boat accident Sunday morning. Jose Fernandez was only in the league for four years, but he took the league by storm. He had become one of the best starting pitchers in the game and made the All Star team twice. He would become a pitcher who would always be a candidate for the CY Young award.
The way he played the game with that exuberance it could only be matched by a certain few and with a smile always on his face. Some might say it was too flamboyant and not respectful of the game but hey he was just going out there to have fun and play the game he had been playing since he was a kid. After a few failed attempts to flee from Cuba and time in a Cuban prison Fernandez, along with his mother and sister, defected in 2007. On that successful attempt, José’s mother fell overboard when the boat hit turbulent waters, and José had to dive into the water to save her life. They made it to Mexico and moved to Tampa Bay in 2008.
Playing on the high school baseball team, Fernandez was part of the Florida Class 6A state champions in his sophomore and senior seasons. The Marlins selected Fernandez in the first round, with the 14th overall selection, of the 2011 MLB draft. He would be called up in the 2013 season and make the All Star team and would win the National League Rookie of the Year. He had fulfilled his dream of being a baseball player and he had lived the American dream coming from overseas to pursue his passion and freedom.
Things didn’t always go smoothly for Fernandez as he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2014 after being the second youngest opening day starter. He would come back at end of the 2015 season looking like the same pitcher he was in 2013. He even could do it with the bat as he was just the second pitcher in Marlins history to produce a game-winning hit, in the 12th inning in a game earlier this year, and had two career home runs. Fernandez’s last game was on September 20. He pitched eight shutout innings in a 1–0 win. He finished 2016 with a MLB-leading 12.5 strikeouts per nine innings, and a new Marlins’ season record of 253 strikeouts, in 182 1⁄3 innings.
He won 16 games, the best of his four-year career, while losing eight, with a 2.86 ERA. In that last game he had pitched in front of his mother and Grandmother. Fernandez considered his grandmother, Olga, the “love of his life” and after six years apart, Olga and José were reunited in Miami after the 2013 season. He had just become an American citizen last year and his girlfriend, Carla Mendoza, was pregnant with their first child.
He went through so much adversity to have lived the dream we all have as kids, to play major league baseball and got to do it with his family watching every step of the way. Even though I never met him he left an impact on me because the way he played the game. In the games, the All Star game and the highlights he always would gave his all as he was the heart of the Miami Marlins. His other great impact was on the community of Cuban Americans and that he will always be a hero to those kids. We will always remember you Jose and we will never forget you.