Rockies’ Julian Fernandez throwing 100 mph fastballs, but knows he needs more than that – The Denver Post

Julian Fernandez sat in the Rockies dugout at Coors Field talking fastballs.

In his major-league debut last Sunday, the 6-foot-7, 235-pound right-hander blew away Atlanta Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson with a 102.4 mile per hour third-strike fastball. Fernandez’s heater tied for the fourth-fastest pitch in the National League this season, according to StatCast. It also was the highest velocity by a Rockies pitcher in the StatCast era (since 2015).

Fernandez said he can throw harder.

“I have thrown 105 in games before,” he said, remembering moments when he let it fly in short-season Class A-ball with Boise in 2016 and with Low-A Asheville in 2017.

But that 105 heat index was before his path to the majors was stalled by Tommy John surgery in March 2018.

“Before Tommy John, it was crazy how easy he could throw,” recalled Carlos Estevez, the Rockies’ closer and Fernandez’s friend and mentor. “He would say, ‘I’m going to throw 104 today.’ And then he would just go out and do it. It was stupid-good how hard he could throw.”

Now, more than three years after that procedure and after stints with the Giants and Marlins organizations, the 25-year-old Fernandez is trying to stick in the Rockies’ bullpen. There’s magic in his fastball again.

Of the 21 pitches the reliever threw Sunday, 11 topped 100 mph.

But he knows pure heat is not enough to succeed in the majors. Lots of pitchers can throw hard. According to data from FanGraphs and StatCast, the average major league fastball has increased 3.8 mph over the past 20 years, and the number of pitches at or above 100 mph has jumped from a couple of hundred per season to what could be nearly 2,000 this year.

“I know now that I have to use my secondary pitches and attack the strike zone and move the ball around,” Fernandez said. “I have to command my pitches.”

He was reminded of that in the seventh inning Tuesday night against the San Francisco Giants’ Mike Yastrzemski. Fernandez fell behind, 1-0, with a misplaced changeup, and then grooved a 97.7 mph fastball. Yastrzemski clobbered the pitch for a two-run homer in the Giants’ 12-3 rout.

“The Giants are a smart-hitting team,” Estevez said. “They knew what was coming.”

Fernandez, obviously, has a lot to learn, but there’s no denying his talent, nor his pedigree. He seemed destined to be a major-league pitcher.

His father, Tony Eusebio, caught 598 games for the Houston Astros from 1991-2001. What’s more, Fernandez grew up five minutes away from the Rockies’ Latin American complex in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic.

When he was 9, he was a batboy for the Rockies’ Dominican Summer League team. As a kid, Fernandez was always hanging around the Rockies Dominican Academy. He collected the leftover vegetables from the training table and took them back to his grandfather’s farm. Roman Fernandez would then feed the vegetables to the pigs.

One day, when Fernandez was beginning to sprout as a pre-teen, Edison Lora, the Rockies’ Latin American field and pitching coordinator, asked Fernandez if he wanted to pitch. It was soon apparent that there was lighting in Fernandez’s right arm.

“I signed with the Rockies when I was 18,” Estevez recalled. “He was 14 and about to turn 15. I remember he was really skinny. Then, two years later, when I returned from the States, he’s like 6-5 and throwing really hard. I was like, ‘What happened, dude?’ ”

Fernandez can answer that.

“I started really working out hard,” he said. “I was working for a goal to sign (a contract) at 16.”

He made it. In 2012, Rolando Fernandez, the Rockies’ vice president of international scouting and development, signed him as an international free agent.

But the right-hander’s road to the majors had some hairpin turns. The Giants selected him from the Rockies in the Rule 5 draft prior to the 2018 season, putting him in line to make their major-league roster. But then he hurt his elbow and had to undergo Tommy John surgery.

“That was hard,” he said. “I did not see that coming, but I knew I couldn’t give up.”

Claimed off waivers by Miami, he didn’t pitch at all in 2019. He returned to the Rockies after the 2019 season but the pandemic wiped out his 2020 season. He showed up at this year’s spring training healthy and in good shape. And rusty.

“I saw a pitcher who was still throwing hard and still pretty raw,” manager Bud Black said. “I don’t think anything has changed. He’s still raw. But what Julian has done is be able to get on the mound with repetitions, and then the talent started showing up.”

Black will use Fernandez when he can during the final three weeks of the season.

“He is in a really good spot physically and mentally,” Black said. “Hopefully, he can finish up strong this season. And hopefully, that will put him on pace for next season. There is probably some winter ball in there for Julian in his home country. He needs to keep pitching. He needs the reps.”

And Fernandez needs to improve his slider and changeup, because major-league hitters are capable of mashing power fastballs.

“As much as pitchers’ velocity has increased over the last decade, and even more so the last couple of years, hitters are making adjustments to get the barrel to the ball,” Black said. “And they are making physical adjustments with their own hitting mechanics to be able to hit high velocity. So you have to have other pitches and other weapons to be able to attack the hitter.”

Plus, no one can hurl lightning bolts forever, as Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman’s career has shown.

In 2016, Chapman’s average fastball was 101 mph. Now, at age 33, it’s 98.6 mph. In 2016, 57.8% of his fastballs were at least 100 mph, which blew away every other pitcher in the majors. This year, just 15.8% of his fastballs have been 100 mph or faster.

When Estevez made his major-league debut in 2016, he reached 100 mph on 38 pitches and averaged 98.7 mph with his fastball.

“When I go walking around and they go, ‘Hey, see this guy? He throws 100.’ It’s just crazy. It’s awesome,” Estevez said at the time. “I have seen guys work really hard, too, and they never get to that. I’ve been working hard my entire life and I get to throw 100, but not everyone is able to. And I think it’s just a gift from God.”

According to FanGraphs, in 2016 Estevez threw his four-seamer 70.9% of the time; this season it’s down to 66.8%. He threw his slider at a 20.3% rate in 2016 and now it’s at 15.6%. The biggest change has been increased use of his changeup: 8.8% vs. 17.6%.

“I don’t try to throw as hard anymore,” Estevez said. “I tell Julian that all the time. He understands. The good thing is, sometimes before I even say anything, he’s got it figured out.

“I love my fastball. He loves his fastball. But the other day he said, ‘I should have used my breaking ball on the first pitch, as a show-me pitch.’ He’s starting to get it.”

Hot Stuff

The average velocity of a major league fastball continues to climb. In 2008, the average fastball was 91.7 mph, according to FanGraphs. And that velocity continues to increase:

2016: 92.3 mph
2017: 92.8 mph
2018: 92.8 mph
2019: 93.1 mph
2020: 93.5 mph
2021: 93.7 mph

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