Top Latino Starting Pitchers 2014: Five Best Starters Entering The Season
They say in baseball that a team's momentum is only as good as the next day's starter, and the following Latino moundsmen have preserved plenty of momentum in their respective careers.
Here's who made the cut for Latin Post's five best Latino starting pitchers in Major League Baseball going into the 2014 campaign:
Player: Bartolo Colón
Team: New York Mets
Throws: Right-handed
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
The 2013 season was a bounce-back year for starter Bartolo Colón, but not because he was returning from some devastating injury. His 2012 season with the Oakland Athletics was instead marred by a positive test result for synthetic testosterone that got him suspended 50 games. The 40-year-old Colón, though, was stellar for Oakland last year, going 18-6 with a 2.65 ERA in 30 starts. His gaudy numbers with the AL West champions, which include three complete games, earned him a two-year, $20 million contract this offseason from the New York Mets.
Player: José Fernández
Team: Miami Marlins
Throws: Right-handed
Country of Origin: Cuba
If 2013 is any indication, Miami Marlins right-hander José Fernández , 21, appears be Major League Baseball's "next big thing" on the mound. Fernández, who defected from Cuba in 2008, went 12-6 in what was his rookie season, and pitched to a 2.19 ERA. His ERA was the second-lowest league-wide, and his 187 strikeouts were tied for 12th highest in the National League. Fernández was selected to the NL's All-Star team and twice named the NL's Rookie of the Month. Then, to top it all off, he won the NL Rookie of the Year Award. Not bad, huh?
Player: Félix Hernández
Team: Seattle Mariners
Throws: Right-handed
Country of Origin: Venezuela
Félix Hernández's numbers last year were mortal by his standards, yet there's no discernible way to compile this list without including him in it. Hernández, who signed a seven-year, $175 extension with the Seattle Mariners on Feb. 13, 2013, went 12-10 with a 3.04 ERA for a team that avoided finishing last in the AL West division courtesy of the 51-111 Houston Astros. Fortunately for the 27-year-old 2010 Cy Young Award winner and his fans, Mariners ownership has allotted an enormous amount of money toward returning the team to contention, something most evident with the signing of former Yankees second baseman Robinson Canó for 10 years and $240 million back in December.
Player: Aníbal Sánchez
Team: Detroit Tigers
Throws: Right-handed
Country of Origin: Venezuela
Detroit Tigers hurler Aníbal Sánchez won a career-high 14 games, suffered eight losses and owned an American League-best 2.57 ERA in 2013. The author of a no-hitter versus the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2006 as a rookie with the Florida Marlins (now called the Miami Marlins), Sánchez, 29, has been holding his own in a starting rotation that includes 2011 Cy Young/Most Valuable Player Award recipient Justin Verlander and reigning Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer.
Player: Francisco Liriano
Team: Pittsburgh Pirates
Throws: Left-handed
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Francisco Liriano, 30, was key to the Pittsburgh Pirates reaching their first postseason in 21 years in 2013, recording 16 wins against eight losses with an ERA of 3.02. The left-hander performed brilliantly vs. the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Wild Card Game, tossing seven innings of one-run ball in Pittsburgh's 6-2 victory that night. Liriano's 16 regular-season wins last year marked a career high.
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