Jose Fernandez was named the National League Pitcher of the Month for April on Monday in recognition of his brilliant month.
This is the first time that Fernandez has taken home this specific honor but it joins a long list of other awards. The right-hander also was named co-NL Player of the Week on April 7th which was an award he won two times during his rookie season.
Fernandez was also NL Rookie of the Month twice in 2013 along with winning the NL Rookie of the Year award after the season.
As for the stats that led to this award going to Fernandez, they are the type found often in Cy Young winners. From March 31-April 30, Fernandez made six starts and went 4-1 with a 1.59 E.R.A. The ace only had one poor start and easily could be 5-1 after only a month of the season. Fernandez hurled 39.2 innings and struck out 55 while only walking eight.
A ratio like that is almost unheard of and likely played a huge role in the award going to Fernandez.
Thus far on the year, Fernandez has given up only seven earned runs on 25 hits and has a sparkling WHIP of 0.83 which is actually better than he was during 2013. In fact, Fernandez has currently improved across the board from last season when he was already one of the top arms in all of baseball.
Since his four inning outing in Philadelphia in which he allowed six earned runs in four innings, Fernandez has allowed nothing. In three starts following that one, the ace has thrown 23 innings and allowed zero earned runs. Opposing hitters have combined for nine hits and 32 strikeouts in those games.
Sports
Fernandez will likely have a bad start mixed in here and there because he is only human after all. If he keeps this pace up, there are likely to be more awards headed his way in 2014 including the NL Cy Young Award.
