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Inside Baseball
Posted: Tuesday April 11, 2000 03:21 PM Exhibit AJust 30, Alex Fernandez is an old master to the Marlins' young arms By Stephen Cannella
"My job here is to help the team win as many games as possible," says Fernandez, the second-oldest (30) and highest-paid ($7 million) Florida player. "If the young guys can learn something from the way I pitch, that's a plus." Fernandez's role as a good example to the Marlins' assembly of young arms coincides with the end of a nearly three-year learning curve of his own. For the first time since the end of the 1997 season, the righthanded Fernandez -- who missed all of 1998 while recovering from rotator cuff surgery and went 7-8 with a 3.38 ERA in 24 painful starts last year -- finally feels healthy enough to pitch every fifth day. He looked strong in his two starts last week, an Opening Day win over the Giants and a 4-2 loss last Saturday in which the Rockies scored the go-ahead run on an eighth-inning error. In both games he consistently threw in the high 80s and topped out at 91 mph. "There were times last year when we'd watch him warm up and say, 'This is going to be a long night,'" says righthander Brian Edmondson, 27. "Our jaws would be on the ground when he'd get guys out without breaking 86." Held to strict pitch counts last season, Fernandez now is off the leash. But the lessons he learned in trying to make his starts last as long as possible have changed his approach. "Last year we had to rely on Alex's off-speed pitches," says catcher Mike Redmond. "His velocity is up now, so we can challenge hitters." "I knew that before, but I finally made it part of my game," says Fernandez, who in his first two starts threw only 13.95 pitches per inning, nearly 1 1/2 fewer than he averaged last season. "We're taught to waste a pitch here and there, but there's no need for that. I've learned to make every pitch count." Fernandez's presence on the mound and in the clubhouse is important to Florida's future. "Every pitch he throws has a purpose, and that's where I want to go," says 22-year-old righthander Ryan Dempster. Adds righthander Brad Penny, 21, who won his first major league start last Friday, "We try to watch and learn. He's so relaxed, and he competes so hard." That competitiveness raises the question of whether Fernandez will still be around if and when Florida is ready to contend for the National League pennant. He has two years left on a contract that includes a list of seven teams to which he would agree to be traded, but Fernandez, a Miami native, insists he wants to stay in South Florida. "I've got one of these," he says, pulling his 1997 World Series ring out of his locker. "I want to bring another one back here." Issue date: April 17, 2000
For more Inside Baseball see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, April 12. Click here to subscribe to SI.
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