Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
Every once in a while, during the course of the MLB season, you will see bad teams on the field. Some teams just have no real superstars, or even real bright spots for them to work with.
The Miami Marlins happen to be one of those teams. Yes, they have a superstar player in the form of Giancarlo Stanton, and asides him, Miami has had another bright spot in this otherwise dismal season. That bright spot has been Jose Fernandez. Most know by now that Fernandez has been shut down for the season, but at the time of his shutdown, he was still in the hunt for two postseason awards.
There has been talk floating around baseball that Fernandez could be in contention for both the National League Cy Young and the NL Rookie Of The Year. As far as the NL Cy Young race goes, Fernandez has a bit of an uphill climb. He is still in contention, but has a lot of competition. Fernandez is still behind the likes of Clayton Kershaw, Craig Kimbrel and Adam Wainwright, just to name a few.
That said, let’s not forget that Fernandez was in the top 10 of many pitching statistics in the NL, including sixth in strikeouts (187), first in K/9 (9.75), first in H/9 (5.759), third in WAR (6.3), second in adjusted ERA+, as well as second in MLB for ERA (2.19). Compared to some of the other pitchers, Fernandez will have started less games on the season, a fact which may hurt his chances as well.
So, from a stats perspective, its still a long shot for the Cy Young.
As far as the NL Rookie of the Year award goes, Fernandez has a better chance here. The only real competition for the Rookie of the Year that Fernandez has, as far as I can tell, is Yasiel Puig of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Sure, Puig and the Dodgers are going to make the playoffs, and Puig plays every day, but here’s the difference that may be a factor in this race: Puig didn’t start playing for the Dodgers till the beginning of June, whereas Fernandez has been around from the start of the year for the Marlins.
This may not have much of a factor on the decision of who wins the award, but there’s the perceived attitude problem from Puig’s antics both on and off the field. Fernandez may have hurt himself here as well with his recent antics in a game against the Atlanta Braves, but he’s had far fewer incidences overall.
So Fernandez is a long shot to snag the Cy, but still very much has a chance to take home the ROY in what has been an otherwise dismal season for the Marlins.
What do you think?
Matthew Solomon covers the NHL, NFL and MLB for Rant Sports. You can follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, and join my Google network!
