McCullers set for emotional start vs. Marlins
MIAMI — Lance McCullers Jr. arrived at Marlins Park a little early Tuesday afternoon and walked around outside along the perimeter of the stadium. Soon, the Astros starting pitcher found his destination: the memorial wall dedicated to late Miami Marlins ace Jose Fernandez.
The orange wall, which bears Fernandez’s last name, a No. 16 and a black ribbon, is filled with thousands of written tributes. McCullers, a close friend of Fernandez dating to their days as high school stars in Tampa, Fla., penned one of his own.
“It was tougher than I thought it was going to be,” the 23-year-old righthander said later.
McCullers said he wrote: “Rest easy, my brother. I love you. We made it.” He underlined “We.”
“I do give a lot of credit to a lot of people in my life who helped me get here, but I think he was one that pushed me a lot and gave me a lot of advice along the way through training and just what it was going to take to get here,” McCullers said. “One of our big goals was to pitch against each other one time (in the major leagues). So I’ll kind of treat (Wednesday) as that.”
McCullers’ start in the Astros’ series finale against the Marlins figures to be an emotional one. He first met Fernandez during his freshman year of high school, when Fernandez, who had defected from Cuba, was a sophomore at another Tampa-area school. They became workout partners the summer after McCullers’ freshman year.
McCullers has paid homage all season to Fernandez, who died last September when he crashed his boat into a jetty off Miami Beach. McCullers’ orange-colored Astros glove, custom-made by Wilson, is the same A2K model Fernandez used early in his career. The late pitcher’s name is etched in blue along the side.
The blue and orange cleats McCullers has worn this season also have printed on them Fernandez’s initials “JDF” and the No. 16. McCullers ordered special cleats for Wednesday’s start through Nomad Customs, a Miami-based company that Fernandez also used. McCullers’ only instructions were to make a pair “that Jose would like.”
McCullers said he thinks about Fernandez “a lot.” Before throwing his warm-up pitches at the beginning of every start, he marks with his finger a “16” in the dirt on the back of the mound. He sees the number every time he walks up the hill after receiving the ball back from third baseman Alex Bregman.
The tributes, McCullers said, are meant as a way to celebrate Fernandez’s life.
“This is one of the things he loved most of all — playing baseball, being able to pitch, competing,” McCullers said. “I wanted to keep that alive.”
Hoyt piling up the strikeouts
The video game-like strikeout numbers Astros reliever James Hoyt recorded in Class AAA have started to translate to the majors.
Hoyt, who punched out an eye-popping 93 batters in 55 innings in the Pacific Coast League last season, is amid the most successful of his three stints with the Astros since rejoining the team on April 20. The 6-6 righthander has struck out 18 of the 32 batters he’s faced and allowed only one run in eight innings over six relief appearances.
Hoyt’s strikeout total comes against only two walks. The 30-year-old journeyman is throwing sliders on more than half of his pitches. He has extracted 14 of his strikeouts on the breaking ball, which sits in the 84-85 mph range.
“I feel confident with it,” he said. “I know I can throw it down in the zone when I need to throw it down in the zone. And if I can get ahead, get early strikes with that pitch with them either swinging at it aggressively or taking it, I’m going to stick with that game plan.
“I feel like I have a power fastball, too, so I’m not just going to go out there and throw 75 percent sliders all year long. There’s a time and a place for the slider, and then there’s also a time and a place to throw the fastball to get them off the slider. As long as I continue with that, I feel like I can have success up here.”
Hoyt debuted with the Astros last August and pitched in two different stints with the club. In 22 innings, he struck out 28 batters against nine walks and had a 4.50 ERA.
“Last year in the taste of big league action I had, I still had more strikeouts than innings pitched, so there was a sign there,” he said. “I just knew I could do better. Honestly, I don’t go out there thinking I’m going to strike out the side. I just go out there thinking of getting ahead of the hitter. And then once I can get them in a hole, I feel like I can put them away with my secondary pitches.”