Despite making only 47 career starts with the Miami Marlins, pitcher Jose Fernandez is regarded as one of the most dominant arms in MLB. However, his 2016 campaign will be his first full season following Tommy John surgery and the Marlins want the right-hander to rely less on his best pitch to avoid the risk of further injury.
The 23-year-old made 11 starts last season in his return from Tommy John, and went 6-1 with a 2.92 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 79 strikeouts in 64 and two-thirds innings. In those outings he threw his fastball 55.6 percent of the time and averaged 95.8 mph, but it seems as if the Marlins want him to lay off his heater in 2016.
"The design is two-fold: turn Fernandez into an even better pitcher than the one he already is and reduce the risk of injury to his surgically repaired right arm," writes Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald.
Spencer said Fernandez threw 34 pitches on Monday, "seven or eight" of which were changeups and one that was a breaking ball. Manager Don Mattingly said he wants the young ace to "use his pitches more," which isn't an unreasonable request considering he has a slider (thrown 27.7 percent of the time in 2015), changeup (12.7 percent) and curveball (3.9 percent).
In addition to limiting his fastball use, the Marlins will be keeping a close eye on his innings limit. It's unclear how much they'll let him throw, but I'm sure they'll try hard to avoid an inning-limit debacle after his agent, Scott Boras, created a controversy with Matt Harvey and the New York Mets last season.
Fernandez has never thrown more than 172 and two-thirds innings in a season, and has just 289 under his belt in three MLB campaigns, so it's unlikely the former Rookie of the Year pitches far beyond that 170 limit due to medical concerns, specifically overuse of the previously injured elbow.
Miami will need the right-hander on the mound as much as possible if they plan to contend in 2016. Keep in mind Fernandez and slugger Giancarlo Stanton haven't been on the field at the same time for more than nine games during their time with the Marlins.
That needs to change, and the Marlins are off to a good start in preserving Fernandez's help by talking him into mixing up his pitch selection heading into what could be his second full MLB season.
