All hail the King!

[dawgfan]

King Felix Hernandez that is, the precocious young Mariner starter. Generally regarded as the top pitching prospect in the game, he's lived up to the hype and then some with his first 3 MLB starts. His first MLB start was respectable - 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, but his last 2 have been outstanding:

8 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
8 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 11 K

Which gives him the following line for the season:

21 IP, 11 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 21 K, 0.86 ERA

Now, he probably can't keep up this level of pitching the rest of the season, but he's showing all the signs of being a fantastic pitcher. Not only is he striking out a batter per inning, he's a groundball machine with a 4.33:1 grounball to flyball ratio so far. He mixes a 98 MPH 4-seam fastball with a 95 MPH 2-seam sinker, a hard curve (85 MPH), a very good change and a wicked slider that the M's have banned him from using in the minors to protect his arm.

The M's have had horrible luck with their pitching prospects over the last 10 years in terms of health, and the King scared everyone in the organization when he came down with mild shoulder bursitis earlier this year in AAA, but with any luck he'll stay healthy and give the M's their best homegrown pitcher since Mark Langston.

[Vinatieri for Prez]

He will be good but two of his starts were against Detroit and KC.

[Klinglerware]

He does look good. But, hopefully they'll be careful with him and not push him too much--not too many teenage phenoms (e.g. Gooden) end up living up to their early promise...

[korme]

Five good pitches. Sounds like a winner.


I'll trade you Eric Milton for him.

[Yellow5]

Been watching him pitch in Tacoma this season before he was called up and the kid is the real deal. Just hope he doesn't end up busted like the other young pitchers that have come though the M's org.

[Ragone]

again.. he was pitching against the tigers and the royals.. and basically under no pressure

[Schmidty]

He will be good but two of his starts were against Detroit and KC.

Detroit is one of best hitting teams in the AL.

[Ragone]

Detroit is one of best hitting teams in the AL.


they were.. until you consider they've played the royals 15 times.. and they've all but given up now :)

[Schmidty]

they were.. until you consider they've played the royals 15 times.. and they've all but given up now :)

Nah, they still are. They've just been in a rough stretch. I'm not giving up on them. The top 4-5 of the order is just deadly.

[dawgfan]

again.. he was pitching against the tigers and the royals.. and basically under no pressure

It's fine to point this out, and it's correct to note that this is just 3 games and 21 IP, but the argument that "it was just the Tigers and Royals" breaks down when you consider just how much he dominated. Realize this - the lineups he's faced thus far this season have hit .269/.327/.406; against Felix they hit .153/.191/.153. He's cut their collective OPS against him by 53% over how they've fared against the rest of the league. For comparison, the hitters Roger Clemens has faced have hit .256/.325/.405 overall and .188/.245/.255 against Clemens, a reduction of 32% to their OPS.

It's a small sample size and he's pitched in pitcher-friendly parks against some of the weakest hitting teams in the AL, but he hasn't just done well - he's dominated. Nit-pick if you like, but he's done exactly what you'd expect a dominating pitcher to do. I mean c'mon - was he supposed to throw no-hitters instead?

[Klinglerware]

I'm not questioning his ability--I am just hoping that the M's don't give in to temptation and give him more than his body and psyche can handle. He could easily turn into Gooden, Ankiel, Kerry Wood, Mike Morgan, and so forth--all young phenoms who (though the jury is out on Wood) never captured the dominance (except for Morgan, who was brought up too early and never dominated) of their early careers...

[dawgfan]

I'm not questioning his ability--I am just hoping that the M's don't give in to temptation and give him more than his body and psyche can handle. He could easily turn into Gooden, Ankiel, Kerry Wood, Mike Morgan, and so forth--all young phenoms who (though the jury is out on Wood) never captured the dominance (except for Morgan, who was brought up too early and never dominated) of their early careers...

No disagreement here - it's the biggest fear M's fans have right now. And with our history of top pitching prospects having major arm troubles (Ryan Anderson, Roger Salkeld, Travis Blackley, Jeff Heaverlo, Gil Meche, Ken Cloude) it's a huge concern.

All we can do is hope they keep him on a reasonable pitch count and cross our fingers.

[Solecismic]

It's remarkable for a kid that age to handle even three starts at that level. I'm wondering what Gooden would have done had he not addled his career with drug use.

The Mariners have had terrible luck with pitching prospects. I hope Felix can turn that around, and that the Seattle fans understand what they're seeing (they thought Piniella was a good manager, go figure).

I was sorry to see Heaverlo's arm fall off. I remember covering a Husky baseball game for the Times way back when he was just about to be drafted. His dad, who was a major leaguer himself, did local radio broadcasts. Great guy, he would talk non-stop baseball to everyone in the press box who had a question for him, then buy hot dogs for all of us.

[Yellow5]

The Mariners have had terrible luck with pitching prospects. I hope Felix can turn that around, and that the Seattle fans understand what they're seeing (they thought Piniella was a good manager, go figure).

Watching him pitch a few times with the Tacoma Rainiers this season was pretty special. It'll be interesting to see how he handles the White Sox and Yankees coming up in a few weeks.

Jeff Nelson was on local radio today and he compared Felix to Gooden, Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez. I think it's a little early to say something like that but he knows more about pitching than I do so I'll take his word for it. :)

[QuikSand]

"The curveball from hell" - a nearly perfect 12-to-6 curveball... the only name that can possibly come to mind is Gooden.

[WSUCougar]

Damn, a Mark Langston reference.

One of my favorite baseball memories was listening on the radio to Dave Niehaus call an 18-K game by Langston back in the day.

Where have you gone, Enrique Romo? Shane Rawley? Bill Caudill?

Yeah, I'm old.

[dawgfan]

Damn, a Mark Langston reference.

One of my favorite baseball memories was listening on the radio to Dave Niehaus call an 18-K game by Langston back in the day.

Where have you gone, Enrique Romo? Shane Rawley? Bill Caudill?

Yeah, I'm old.

Don't forget Ed Vande Berg, Edwin Nunez, Lee Guetterman, Billy Wilkinson, Matt Young, Scott Bankhead...

I remember as a kid trying to emulate Langston's high leg kick delivery (it wasn't easy...)

[WSUCougar]

Matt Young, dear lord. How about Floyd Bannister? He had his moments.

Some other early Mariner memories center around Danny Meyer and his nervous neck-twisting thing, Julio "Cruiser" Cruz stealing bases, and of course Rupert Jones (Ruuuuuuuupe!). I also recall Bruce Bochte going deep into the upper deck in right at the Kingdome - yowsa!

And then there was Gaylord Perry whiffing Reggie three times, and Jackson throwing the Gatorade jug onto the field in disgust. :D

[dawgfan]

Those bring back memories. How about Tom Paciorek and Richie Zisk and the '82 team - was it Paciorek or Zisk that had homers to beat the Yankees at home on consecutive nights?

Young was the ultimate tease - outstanding arm but he just couldn't ever put the whole package together. Mike Moore was almost as frustrating, maybe even moreso when he went to the A's, learned the splitter and got real good for a few years.

Fluttering Floyd Bannister, he never quite panned-out. Remember Rick Honeycut and the thumbtack episode?

Who says the M's don't have a rich baseball history? ;)

[WSUCougar]

Honeycutt's thumb tack = gold

How about Dick "Bean" Pole? Steve "Yogurt" Braun? And somebody Collins...light switch-hitting, speedy white guy who the Ms inexplicaby used as their lead-off guy.

And who could forget Juan "Moncho" Bernhardt?

[dawgfan]

Dave Collins - he actually ended up having a couple good seasons later in his career with the Reds and Blue Jays.

I have a soft spot for Tony Bernazard, and for a bizarre reason - I had the Statis-Pro Baseball set from '83 and ran an abbreviated season for the M's from that year, and believe it or not they had a winning record and Bernazard was one of the hitting stars.

[CraigSca]

"The curveball from hell" - a nearly perfect 12-to-6 curveball... the only name that can possibly come to mind is Gooden.
One of my favorite pitchers of all-time, Gregg Olson, had a devastating curveball - rare for a closer.

Speaking of this kid's nice strikeout to walk ratio, I can remember reading as a kid a Bill James article on Roger Clemens (and how he would be a special pitcher). The odds of striking out 10 or more and having at least one walk is infinitely more than 10 or more strikeouts with exactly 0 walks. Of course, strikeouts are a much more common occurrence this decade as opposed to the 80's, but I think 13 Ks vs. 0 walks = a pretty special pitcher who has a great future if he can stay healthy.

[CraigSca]

Dave Collins - he actually ended up having a couple good seasons later in his career with the Reds and Blue Jays.

I have a soft spot for Tony Bernazard, and for a bizarre reason - I had the Statis-Pro Baseball set from '83 and ran an abbreviated season for the M's from that year, and believe it or not they had a winning record and Bernazard was one of the hitting stars.
I had the '85 APBA set and decided to replay the Mariners that year - in my replay they won over 90 games (have no idea how). Jim Presley (sp?), Alvin Davis, Ivan Calderon, Phil Bradley - for awhile the Mariners had some pretty good young players, but they always seemed to have good pitchers too early in their careers (Mike Morgan, Floyd Bannister, Mark Langston, Mike Moore, etc).

I loved when they had the Ed Vande Berg/Bill Caudill combo. A nice lefty/righty thing in the bullpen.

[Travis]

"The curveball from hell" - a nearly perfect 12-to-6 curveball... the only name that can possibly come to mind is Gooden.

When/If he ever comes back, add Roy Halladay's name to that list. I love watching him get guys fishing for the big looping hook, mostly because they know it's coming.

Also, a youngster named Gustavo Chacin started the season like this (and recently had another fantastic streak, winning 5 straight in July). Great to see some fantastic young arms making a mark this season. Be interesting to see how Hernandez does once he faces teams for a second/third time.

[QuikSand]

Gustavo Chacin started the season like this

Easy there, sporto. Chacin has had a ncie season, and did start out red hot, but that's a far cry from like this. 13 strikeouts and no walks? This is another layer or two of atmosphere beyond anything Chacin has ever done, sorry.

[panerd]

I had the '85 APBA set and decided to replay the Mariners that year - in my replay they won over 90 games (have no idea how). Jim Presley (sp?), Alvin Davis, Ivan Calderon, Phil Bradley - for awhile the Mariners had some pretty good young players, but they always seemed to have good pitchers too early in their careers (Mike Morgan, Floyd Bannister, Mark Langston, Mike Moore, etc).

I loved when they had the Ed Vande Berg/Bill Caudill combo. A nice lefty/righty thing in the bullpen.

I replayed about 100 Mariners games with either the '86 or '87 APBA set of David Valle hit like 37 homeruns. Obviously he probably only had about 100 at-bats in real life that year, but he had an awesome card (I beleive it was one of those perferated extra ones) and what kid wouldn't play a card like that at catcher? I think Langston may have been an A (XY) pitcher that year?

[dawgfan]

The funny thing about Felix's control so far with the M's is that was probably his only weakness this year in AAA - I don't have the exact numbers for this season in front of me, but it was something like 88 IP, 43 BB, 100 K. That may have been an aberration though, since in his first 2 seasons of minor-league ball his walk rates were pretty good, with a better than 3:1 K to walk ratio.

On a side note, does anyone know of a website that tracks current season stats for minor leaguers for all levels pitched and regardless of whether they've graduated to the Majors? BaseballCube is great for past seasons, Baseball America works for the current season but only their current level and only if they haven't jumped to the bigs, and the official Minor League pages off of MLB.com show all the levels a guy has pitched this year, but only if he's still in the minors.

Also, for those that haven't seen him pitch, MLB.com is currently featuring video highlights from his last start on the Mariners' page. Just filthy, filthy stuff he has...

[korme]

Now, e'rybody wanna be the king of the South
When, they ain't runnin a damn thing but they mouth

[Travis]

Easy there, sporto. Chacin has had a ncie season, and did start out red hot, but that's a far cry from like this. 13 strikeouts and no walks? This is another layer or two of atmosphere beyond anything Chacin has ever done, sorry.
Granted, Chacin's BB/K ratio wasn't like Hernandez, and I'm sorry if I implied that, but as far as a start to his career really. Yeah, Gustavo had 2 games played previously to this season, but for a guy to step in, win 4 of his first 5 starts, then to win 5 in a row at any point during his rookie season is pretty impressive. Hernandez has had a great start, as did Chacin and I'm enjoying watching both of them. Always nice to see the young arms doing some damage.

[henry296]

Again not in the same class with the strikeouts, but the Pirates Zack Duke is off to a great start. He is 5-0 in his first 7 starts. In his first 6 outings his ERA was near 1 although it is up to around 2 after giving up 4 runs in 4 innings vs. the Astros in his last start.

[Ksyrup]

I had the '85 APBA set and decided to replay the Mariners that year - in my replay they won over 90 games (have no idea how). Jim Presley (sp?), Alvin Davis, Ivan Calderon, Phil Bradley - for awhile the Mariners had some pretty good young players, but they always seemed to have good pitchers too early in their careers (Mike Morgan, Floyd Bannister, Mark Langston, Mike Moore, etc).

I loved when they had the Ed Vande Berg/Bill Caudill combo. A nice lefty/righty thing in the bullpen.
When I saw Caudill's name, I immediately thought of the 1982 Strat-O-Matic set, which featured (from memory, this is how ingrained that season is) Bill Caudill with a 2.35 ERA, Ed Vande Berg with a 2.37 ERA, Bob Stoddard with a 2.41 ERA, and Bryan Clark as a great starter/reliever with a mid-to-upper 2 ERA (I can't place it right now, somewhere between like 2.60 and 2.90). I used to kick ass with that team by over-using the bullpen at every opportunity.

[dawgfan]

Another start, another outstanding performance from young Mr. Fernandez, or as he likes to call himself "El Cartuela" which is loosely translated as "The Badass".

8 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K

For the season, he's pitched 29 innings, struck out 30 with only 4 walks, still hasn't allowed an extra-base hit and his groundball to flyball ratio is an amazing 3.57:1 and his ERA is at 1.24. Folks, extreme groundball pitchers are very rarely also high strikeout pitchers - Felix is walking very rare territory here so far, and given that this was also his pattern in the minors, it doesn't seem to be a fluke.

The only bad news from last night - 115 pitches. Now, we simply don't know enough about pitchers and pitching injuries to know for sure if this is a bad thing or not, only that high pitch counts correlate with pitcher injuries. However that's just a correlation, and there is good reason to believe that a bigger factor is "stress" pitches and pitching while tired. Felix is a big guy and was still throwing in the high 90's when he was lifted, so there's no real overly compelling reason to think the M's jeapordized his future by letting him throw that many pitches, but given the injury history of M's prospects it was cause for some raised eyebrows around M's fans. And to be fair, 115 pitches isn't necessarily a ton - if it were 130, then I'd be a lot more upset.

Anyway, I encourage baseball fans to make an effort to see him pitch when you have the opportunity - he may well be the best young pitcher in the game since Dwight Gooden.

[Jonathan Ezarik]

In case anyone cares, here's Zack Duke's line from the other night against the Mets:

7 IP 2 H 0 ER 1 BB 5 K

His ERA dropped to 1.87 and he moved up to 6-0.

[Yellow5]

Anyway, I encourage baseball fans to make an effort to see him pitch when you have the opportunity - he may well be the best young pitcher in the game since Dwight Gooden.

He is scheduled to pitch Friday against the White Sox so I am taking my kids out to the game. Can't wait to see him throw against a team that can actually hit. :D

[dawgfan]

An update on King Felix:

After beating the A's today, he now has the following line:

51 IP, 31 H, 4 HR, 10 BB, 50 K, 1.59 ERA, 3.52 GB:FB ratio

His worst start of the season was against the White Sox when he gave up 3 runs on 7 hits in 7 innings. This kid is good...

[Yellow5]

Was at the White Sox game and is wasn't as bad as it looked. He has a habit of giving up home runs to guys in the #9 spot. :)

The movement on his pitches is just incredible. Quite a difference after watching him in Tacoma. Was happy to get my family out to the park to see him pitch this early in his career because we got to see something special.

Jesse Foppert pitched for the Rainiers on Saturday night and lost a close game to the River Cats. He looked good and I expect we'll see him in the rotation for the Mariners next year.

[dawgfan]

Jesse Foppert pitched for the Rainiers on Saturday night and lost a close game to the River Cats. He looked good and I expect we'll see him in the rotation for the Mariners next year.

It would be good news for the M's if Foppert is healthy enough next year and recovered enough in his ability to contend for a rotation spot. Bavasi needs some good trades on his resume to counter some of the poorer moves he's made as M's GM.

[Yellow5]

I don't know how I feel about Bavasi honestly. He brought Sexson and Beltre to the team which were good moves. I wish he'd gone after a solid number 1 or 2 pitcher. He couldn't honestly think that the 5 starters this year were going to do anything but suck.

He knows how to spend money but stinks when it comes to trades.

[Karlifornia]

I'm glad we got Randy Winn from you guys, but I hope Foppert recovers from his injury into a solid pitcher.