It is now time to fall in love with the King, Felix Hernandez

Hey tiger, all i've said is "wait and see".

I mean I read way too much about Jeff Francis a few years ago and just today he gets roughed up for 9 runs in 3 innings (sure, in Colorado... but 9 runs on only 3 XBHs, none of which left the yard).

(2xpost)

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/the-next-big-thing/

"Let's wait and see" (ad nauseum).

F. Hernandez (W, 2-1) 8.0 3 1 1 1 11 0 0.86

that's: KKKKKKKKKKKing

God he looked good tonight. That away pitch to righties is a thing of beauty. He got a little bored or tired in the 6th and 7th, getting to a couple of three ball counts, but still, damn. Course his arm could fall off tomorrow, Gygax is not wrong, but in my lost Seattle season, this is about all I have to be cheery about.

6 of the Ks came against the bottom third of the KC lineup, which I cannot be convinced is much different than your garden variety AAA competition.

Sat 20 MIN
Thu 25 TEX
Tue 30 NYY

And if they give him another day's rest it'll be MIN/CWS/NYY. So, progressively more difficult. That seems good, should keep things interesting.

And yes, KC sucks.

i'd like to see him against top competition too but i really think it's all but irrelevant. he's 19, he can have a handicap. AAAA's a natural progression.

so his FB (does he throw 1 or 2) is described as "heavy" - how's the movement?

F-Her's first inning - 11 pitches, 10 strikes, 2 Ks.

"hernandez fans 11"

the curve looks filthy when he let's it drop off the table, but he leaves it up a fair amt even on the strikeouts there, maybe employing it in even counts or after a series of fastballs, i dunno. his change looks like the most underrated pitch in his arsenal - like his fb it tails but it's got quite a bit of sink as well. and to see what his fastball is capable of doing, check out the first pitch shown. inhuman, seriously.

lotsa good stuff, and this was esp. interesting [but you should read the whole post or it might sound way overconfident]:

"The average hitter Felix has faced so far has a season line of .269/.327/.406. Against Felix, they are hitting .153/.191/.153. He has cut the opponents hitters OPS by 53 percent over what they are against the rest of the league. For comparison, Roger Clemens average opponent has a season line of .256/.325/.405, and are hitting .188/.245/.255. Clemens has cut opponents OPS lines by 32 percent. Even adjusting for opponents, Felix has been dominant on a level that no other pitcher in baseball, even Roger Clemens, has matched."

From the USS Mariner:

More Felix Fun
Filed under: Mariners— Dave @ 8:17 am.
Because there’s nothing else on the team that even begins to bring a smile to my face, here’s more musings on the greatness of Felix Hernandez.

Through four starts, King Felix has faced 107 batters and allowed 0 extra base hits. How good is that? He’s tied Mariano Rivera for the fourth longest streak of batters faced without giving up an extra base knock on the season, and if his next start is anything like his first four, he’ll stand alone at the top of the list. Here it is, for those who are curious.

Kyle Farnsworth, 125 batters faced, May 2nd to August 4th
Sergio Mitre, 115 batters faced, May 29th to June 24th
Noah Lowry, 113 batters faced, July 26th to August 17th
Mariano Rivera, 107 batters faced, April 9th to July 2nd
Felix Hernandez, 107 batters faced, August 4th to present

The craziest name on the list (which I got from the awesome Keith Woolner-thanks Keith): Shigetoshi Hasegawa, who faced 76 batters from May 29th to July 29th without allowing an extra base knock. Who knew?

Going back to the past 33 years (all that we have play by play data for), by the way, the record belongs to Bob Welch at 223 batters faced.

Okay, how about something else? The chances of different events occurring in any given at-bat against Felix through his first four starts:

14.95 % chance of a hit
0.00 % chance of an extra base hit
3.74 % chance of a walk
0.93 % chance of being HBP
28.04 % chance of striking out
42.06 % of hitting into a groundout
10.28 % chance of flying out

If you want a comparison, here’s Dwight Gooden’s percentages from his crazy 1985 season, when he won the Cy Young at age 20.

18.59 % chance of a hit
3.66 % chance of an extra base hit
6.48 % chance of a walk
0.19 % chance of being HBP
25.16 % chance of striking out

Opposing batters put up a .201/.253/.270 line against Gooden that season. The average line for the hitters he faced that year was .253/.319/.375. In other words, Gooden knocked 25 percent off a normal hitters line when he faced him. Felix is cutting 53 percent off the average line of the hitters he has faced, turning them into a collection of pitchers. People are hitting .157/.196/.157 against him. That’s… there’s no words for that.

Lets see, what else. Among major league starting pitchers who qualify for the ERA title, here are the league leaders in a few categories, and then Felix’s numbers next to those:

ERA: Clemens, 1.56 - Felix, 1.24
Fielding Independant ERA: Clemens, 2.61 - Felix, 1.60
Component ERA: Clemens, 1.64 - Felix, 0.70 (!)
G/F: Webb, 3.90 - Felix, 4.25
BB/G: Silva, 0.5 - Felix, 1.4
K/G: Peavy, 11.0, - Felix, 10.4
Line Drive %: Lowe, 15.5 percent - Felix, 11.0 percent
Opponents OPS: Clemens, .507 - Felix, .353
WHIP: P. Martinez, 0.89 - Felix, 0.67
Pitches/Inning: Silva, 12.0 - Felix, 13.4 (Felix would rank a measly 2nd in the majors)

Among starting pitchers, his groundball rate is the best in the majors, his strikeout rate is second best, and his walk rate would tie him for sixth best. He’s given up less line drives than anyone else. It’s not even close, actually. His rate of baserunners per innings is off the chart. And he’s doing it with less pitches than everyone other than Carlos “Walks Are A Ticket To Hell” Silva.

How about this one. Game Score is kind of a gimmicky stat developed to summarize a pitchers start in one number (which is almost impossible), but its kinda fun to look at. The highest average game score this year belongs to Roger Clemens (of course) at 66.3. Felix’s average game score? 72.3. His average game score in his last three starts, where he wasn’t on a restrictive pitch count? 77.3.

Through four starts, Felix has been a mutant combination of Randy Johnson’s strikeout dominance, Greg Maddux’s control, Roy Halladay’s efficiency, and Brandon Webb’s groundball rate.

His next start is at home on Friday against the White Sox. Buy tickets. Go to the game. Don’t miss the King in action. Good luck, White Sox.

I'll be at the game Friday. Should be good.

Anyway, you guys can have your rookies because when Halladay comes back I will kick all of your sorry asses.

*23 year-old ChiSox prospect Brian N. Anderson. If he can hit 2 HRs off the "Best Pitching Prospect in baseball", surely he must be equally as impressive? Especially since his Tacos Supremas both came off of Felix's "unhittable" curveballs?

So this Wednesday: King Felix vs. Big Unit in Seattle, I'm gonna try to tune in.

There is no reason for a 19-year-old on a last-place team to go over 100+ pitches in a start after a full season of minor-league work.

MarinerDan (SF, CA): Joe, what is your best prediction for the career path of Felix Hernandez? What's the upside and what is the downside?

Joe Sheehan: I think he'll be one of the five best pitchers in the AL for his next 50 starts or so, then miss some non-trivial amount of time to an arm injury. What happens after that is anyone's guess.

VERSUS RANDY JOHNSON!

MOJO DOJO!

Lots of great quotes in this one:

In the seventh inning against Kansas City, he had a hint of trouble with runners on first and third, two outs and a 3-2 count to Mark Teahen. Catcher Yorvit Torrealba called for a fastball. Hernandez shook him off. Torrealba called for it again and Hernandez shook him off again. "I thought, 'O.K., this is interesting,' " Torrealba said. Hernandez came in with an 84-m.p.h. changeup, striking out Teahen.

"I've caught other young guys before and all they want to do is throw their fastball because that's their best pitch and they can locate it," Torrealba said. "But this guy, for 19 years old, man, that's nice. He's acting like he's been around for a long time."

And yet he still looked pretty good against the Yanqs, his K:BB trend is definitely regressing but WHIP remained solid against one of the most dangerous offensives in the game.

I think I'm gonna go see him on Labor Day.

It was nice of Sterling to jinx Da Unit's no-no, tho - after the bottom of the 5th, he announces that RJ has a no-hitter, and RJ gratiously allows a double in the 6th. Smooooooooth.

-- gygax! (gygax0...), August 22nd, 2005 3:38 PM. (gygax!)

So not only did Bruce Chen outclass King Felix last week, but (as feared) he only lasted 3 innings against the Rangers in Arlington. Can he rebound? I hope so, I took a lot of pix of him in Oakland warming up!

Hmm, how delightfully unnecessary.

http://flickr.com/photos/70149262@N00/sets/72057594085666437/

Shin splints will prevent El Rey from missing his last start of the Spring.

He’s got a strong dog game
https://i.postimg.cc/Jz7LHxDR/IMG-2906.jpg