April 7, 2008
BASEBALL: The King And His Castle
Felix Hernandez has great stuff and potential, and at 22 it's too early to conclude that he won't be a great pitcher someday, or even someday soon.
But it's probably past time to recognize that King Felix's success so far, such as it has been, owes a lot to SafeCo Field. Check out his career splits:
| Park | ERA | H/9 | HR/9 | BB/9 | K/9 |
| Home | 3.41 | 8.64 | 0.75 | 2.33 | 8.25 |
| Road | 4.57 | 9.39 | 1.13 | 2.93 | 7.88 |
The HR numbers are the least surprising - SafeCo is obviously death to fly balls - but also a reminder that for all Hernandez' vaunted ground ball tendencies, his ability to avoid the Big Fly is largely a creature of his home park. But the K rate is the most worrisome, since his high strikeout rate is generally the most positive indicator for his future.
That said, the road numbers still are not bad for such a young pitcher. But he has a ways still to go.