Marlins’ Jose Fernandez Named Comeback Player of the Year

The late Jose Fernandez was named the Sporting News National League Comeback Player of the Year on Tuesday.

The honor comes posthumously after Fernandez's tragic death exactly one month ago. When Fernandez passed away, he was one of the game's best pitchers and this could just be the first of several awards the 24-year old is honored with.

The Comeback Player of the Year award is given to a player that returns to top form after a long time out of the game. Fernandez missed a lot of time due to Tommy John surgery and 2016 represented his return to a full workload. The right-hander had a tremendous 2016 season and could be a contender for the National League Cy Young award as well.

Voting for this award was done by Fernandez's peers in the National League. The publication pointed out that many of the ballots were submitted prior to Fernandez's death.

“He felt like he was growing as a pitcher. He was just excited about growing as a pitcher,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said.

In Fernandez's final career start, he threw 111 pitches in one of his longest outings ever. It was one of the ace's best starts ever, and possibly his top one overall.

“Lights out,” Mattingly said about that final outing.