I’ve previously mused on baseball comparisons. Scouting demands we dig into our memories to describe a player: “Wil Myers’ swing reminds me of Evan Longoria.”
These comps aren’t limited to other ballplayers. I dig rap music. I admit it; I’m a hip-hop head. This is dangerous territory; the debate about who belongs on baseball’s Mount Rushmore is probably less intense than the discussion of hip-hop’s stone faces. Frankly, both have been beat to death, and I have no intention of discussing either. Rather, I’m about to embark on the rarely practiced art of comparing a rapper to a pitcher because, well, why not?
Felix Hernández reminds me of Jay-Z. Capable of power but reliant on finesse, each man’s delivery is fluid, graceful and repeatable. Felix, like Jay, has been a model of consistency. Jigga’s Reasonable Doubt, his rookie performance, was not about volume. Track for track, it was all quality. RD is still considered Jay’s masterpiece.
Felix’s 2005 rookie campaign saw him grooving on the rubber for 12 starts and 81 exquisite innings, posting a 2.85 FIP. This stood as his best until 2012, seven years later.
The two greats seem to reinvent themselves frequently, adding weapons to their arsenals, but both depend heavily on command; the pitcher of the strike zone, the rapper of the club.
These men aren’t exactly alike. I’m scouting, and subsequently painting a picture. If you didn’t follow baseball and I told you King Felix was like Hova, would you know how good he was?
