Eager Fernandez 'ready to go' for Marlins but slated for one more rehab start
If Jose Fernandez had it his way, he'd be making his first start of the season for the Miami Marlins after Tommy John surgery this weekend, but he has another rehab start on the docket.
It's not as though Fernandez hasn't proven he's ready in his rehab starts. He has. In his two most recent rehab outings, the 22-year-old ace has compiled a 1.32 ERA with 19 strikeouts.
"I feel ready, I'm not going to lie, I'm ready to go," Fernandez told the Sun-Sentinel on Thursday. "There's reasons why I'm throwing one more start."
Those reasons happen to be very important reasons. Fernandez is under doctor's orders. And not just any doctor. Renowned Los Angeles sports doctor Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who has operated on everyone from Zack Greinke to Kobe Bryant.
"He says there's reasons why he feels more comfortable waiting whatever amount of time. I don't really want to get into the specifics" Fernandez said. "There was a really long talk. But there are reasons. I trusted him to do the surgery on my arm, so I don't question anything that he tells me."
Patience and maturity aren't always virtues Fernandez has embodied. He only recently acquired those traits during his trying recovery.
"In the first four months, no chance," he said of his patience. "Now I feel like I feel like I've gotten a little better – not only for pitching but for everything in life."
Fernandez will make his final rehab start on Saturday, and is then scheduled to make his 2015 debut for the Marlins on Thursday, July 2 against the San Francisco Giants.
"I thought I was going to be a little more like, 'I can't wait.' I guess because I probably haven't realized yet that I'm that close," he said of his upcoming anticipated season debut. "It's going to be great. I think being on that little circle right there is going to be really special."
(h/t Sun-Sentinel)
