Thursday, September 12, 2013

Don't Ever Change, Jose



Last night, in his last start of the season, Jose Fernandez, in addition to dominating the Braves over seven innings, jacked his first homer of the season, and stood to admire it for a couple seconds before rounding the bases, drawing the annoyance of some of the Braves (McCann was classy about it and stopped Fernandez at home plate to say "Hey man, you don't do that up here"; Chris Johnson acted like a jackass). Anyway, I understand all that. Fernandez does too; he admitted after the game that he had made a mistake. What bothers me is a quote I saw in an article about the incident on mlb.com:
Before games, the pitcher commonly interacts with the opposition, and he will exchange playful words while on the mound. Perhaps it will be suggested that Fernandez does less.
"I haven't seen anybody quite like that," manager Mike Redmond said. "He likes to have fun with guys on the other team, but he's a fierce competitor. That might be a part of his game that maybe he needs to look at, and maybe try to do differently. That's part of his youth."
FUCK that. Watching Fernandez on the mound this year has been one of the most refreshing things I've seen in baseball in a long time, and as a pitcher, has influenced how I carry myself on the mound as well. I don't know much about Redmond, but the fact that he would want to change this part of Fernandez's game really bothers me. Luckily, from the same article:
"I'm going to keep being who I am," Fernandez said. "That's what got me here. It was a little mistake yesterday. I talked to some of the players I needed to apologize to, McCann and Minor. 
"I think everything is good. I'm going to keep doing what I do, and hopefully, I get better."
Don't ever change, Jose.

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