On July 2nd, the 2013 NL Rookie of the Year will be back.
That’s right – Jose Fernandez will be returning to the field for the Miami Marlins, nearly 14 months after undergoing Tommy John surgery that ended his 2014 season.
Of course, going up against the reigning World Champions won’t be an easy task.
.@JDFernandez16 as he announced his big return. Be there for #JoseDay on Thursday, July 2nd! pic.twitter.com/ePyvGcDm0x
— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) June 15, 2015
The 22-year old Fernandez is returning to a situation in Miami that may be best described as “precarious”. The Marlins fired manager Mike Redmond after a 16-22 start, and replaced him with GM Dan Jennings. Jennings lost his first five games at the helm of the team, but has rebounded to an extent, going 11-10 since the end of that losing streak and getting Miami out of the basement in the NL East (thanks, Phillies).
The Marlins rotation has been taking on water all year, pitching to a 4.23 ERA over 361 1/3 innings, the third-lowest total in the National League. Henderson Alvarez, Jarred Cosart, and Mat Latos have all spent time on the DL. But Latos is now off the DL, Cosart is on a rehab assignment, and Alvarez has started up a throwing program, which could give Miami their rotation at full strength in the second half of the 2015 season.
Will that be enough? Probably not, given the state of the Marlins offense. But the NL East is down this year, and adding a guy who has a 2.25 ERA and 257 strikeouts over 224 1/3 major league innings won’t exactly *hurt* the Marlins. Crazier things have happened, you know.
