The Mariners King Finishes His Wild Winter In Venezuela

Mariners fans were hoping that Felix Hernandez would begin to redeem himself in the Liga Venezuela Beisbol Profesional after a rocky, injury-filled 2016. But, in only two starts for the Navegantes del Magallanes, it’s fairly clear that we are no closer to seeing that the old king is better off than before he took the trip down to Venezuela.

Because the Navegantes del Magallanes didn’t clinch a playoff spot, the Mariners “ace”, Felix Hernandez, completed his very short winter league stint in Venezuela.

Despite his small impact on the club’s overall standing, Hernandez didn’t help the team win during each of his two outings.

The first time he stepped to the mound in 2016 winter league action, Hernandez was throwing the ball all over the place.

The hope was that his line of one inning pitched, allowing two earned runs, and giving up two walks was all a symptom of his nerves returning to play in front of his countryman, but when he repeated many of these numbers in the first inning of his next start, it was worrisome.

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A couple days before the new year, Hernandez was back at it, throwing balls way out of the zone, tossing a handful of pitches in the dirt. His first inning line consisted of one walk, three hits allowed while surrendering two earned runs.

Thankfully, flashes of the old Hernandez showed themselves from the second through fourth innings. Hernandez was perfect on the mound, not allowing a single hit or giving up a free pass. He also added two punch outs to this impressive stretch.

However, when it was all said and done, because of the couple of runs the Mariners number one allowed in his starts, he earned a record of 0-1 with a cumulative ERA of 7.20. Numbers that by no means even comes close to his old kingly ways.

This two-game showing down in Venezuela will not affect his standing with the club, but it definitely doesn’t help changes fan’s or the organization’s minds to believe that he will be in Cy Young form come April.

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The next chance Hernandez will get to show off his transformed self will be in March’s World Baseball Classic when he’ll reunite with his countrymen once more in an effort to bring home the title.