Jose Fernandez Killed In Boat Accident

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Miami Marlins ace righthander Jose Fernandez was killed in a boating accident Sunday morning, the team confirmed on Twitter.

“The Miami Marlins organization is devastated by the tragic loss of Jose Fernandez. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at a very difficult time,” the Marlins said in a statement.

“Awful news,” one Marlins official added in a text, confirming the news.

Sunday’s game against Atlanta was canceled, the Marlins announced on Twitter.

In a news conference, an obviously distraught Marlins manager Don Mattingly struggled to talk about Fernandez.

“I see such a little boy in the way he played. Just joy in him when he played,” Mattingly said through tears.

The U.S. Coast Guard said Fernandez was one of three people killed in a boat crash off Miami Beach early Sunday. The other people killed were not identified, pending notification of their families. They were not teammates of Fernandez, according to reports.

In a news conference, Coast Guard officials said a unit saw the overturned boat at 3:15 a.m. Eastern. The severity of the impact and the damage to the 30-foot boat indicated speed was a factor in the crash.

“It does appear that speed was involved due to the impact and the severity of it,” Lorenzo Veloz, spokesman for Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, told reporters. “It does appear to be that they were coming at full speed when they encountered the jetty, and the accident happened.”

There was no immediate indication whether alcohol or illicit drugs played a role in the crash, Veloz said. The victims were not wearing life vests, and Coast Guard officials said the other people were not athletes but personal friends of Fernandez, between the ages of 24-27.

“All of baseball is shocked and saddened by the sudden passing of Miami Marlins pitcher José Fernández,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. ” He was one of our game’s great young stars who made a dramatic impact on and off the field since his debut in 2013. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, the Miami Marlins organization and all of the people he touched in his life.”

Fernandez, 24, has been as one of the game’s best pitchers since he debuted in 2013, and he was BA’s Rookie of the Year in 2013 when he went 12-6, 2.19 with 187 strikeouts in 172.2 innings. That season, over his final 18 starts from June 1-Sept. 11, Fernandez was the best pitcher in the majors. He logged a 1.50 ERA over 120 innings. Second over that span was Clayton Kershaw (1.96). Fernandez also paced the circuit with a .161 opponents’ average during that stretch, well ahead of Stephen Strasburg (.194), second among qualifying pitchers those three and a half months.

This season—his first full year since returning from Tommy John surgery that cost him most of the 2014 season and two-thirds of 2015—Fernandez was 16-8, 2.86 with 253 strikeouts, second in baseball behind Washington’s Max Scherzer.

“We are devastated by the news that José Fernández has tragically passed,” MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark said in a statement. “José was a remarkable young man and a tremendously gifted athlete, who, at just 24, established himself as one of the game’s biggest and brightest stars. Our thoughts and prayers go out to José’s family, friends, teammates, Miami Marlins organization and legions of fans in the United States and Latin America.”

Fernandez’s death evokes other burgeoning stars who died young, from the Cardinals’ Oscar Taveras (2014) to Lyman Bostock (1978) as senseless, tragic deaths that robbed the game of their amazing talents. Fernandez’s death, due to his talent, charisma, smile and bilingual appeal, robs baseball of one of its biggest stars.

“Sadly the brightest lights are often the ones that extinguish fastest,” Marlins president David Samson told reporters.

Before Giancarlo Stanton’s strained his groin in mid-August, the Marlins were in the thick of the NL wild-card race, thanks to Fernandez’s greatness.

Beyond his pitching acumen, the Marlins knew plenty about Fernandez’s charisma.

“Jose has the best personality of a player I’ve come across in a long, long time,” Samson said in 2013. “Again, I want him to be true to himself and true to his talent. I want him to focus on being the best major leaguer he can be because I have news for you: There are scores of players who have been great rookies who had no career. The focus is on having him not be one of those.”

After going 14-1, 1.75 with a 158-35 SO-BB ratio in 134 innings between two Class A stops in his first full pro season, Fernandez ranked No. 5 overall on Top 100 Prospects list after the 2012 season.

He fought long odds to get there. It took four tries before a 15-year-old Fernandez, his mother and his sister finally escaped Cuba via speedboat in 2008. As punishment for their failed attempts, he was expelled from school, kicked off the baseball team and briefly jailed. When waves swept his mother overboard, Fernandez dove in to rescue her, swimming back to the boat with her clinging to his neck. After a harrowing 36-hour journey to Mexico they reached the United States and reunited with his father, who had fled three years earlier.

Fernandez learned English after settling in Tampa, where he led Alonso High to two Florida 6-A state titles in three years. The 14th overall pick in the 2011 draft, he signed for an above-slot $2 million bonus. Even then Fernandez’s confidence—or cockiness—earned him comparisons to Roger Clemens.

Just two years later, he broke camp with the Marlins and in little time it was clear he was one of baseball’s best pitchers.