SEATTLE – Entering his first full season with the Seattle Mariners, Felix Hernandez looks like the superstar pitcher everyone predicts he will become.
The Mariners’ 19-year-old right-hander arrived at Safeco Field on Saturday for the first day of the team’s FanFest as the new owner of a frosted-blond hairdo, a couple of diamond earrings, a fancy pickup truck and a Shih tzu puppy named “King.”
King Felix, as Hernandez has been called by those who consider him as baseball’s best young pitching prospect, hopes to match the flash with substance on the mound in 2006.
Despite the expectations of others, Hernandez is keeping things simple.
“My goal,” he said, “is to stay healthy all year.”
After his introduction to the major leagues last year, when he went 4-4 with a 2.67 earned run average, Hernandez said he laid low in the offseason at his home in Venezuela.
“Just chilling,” he said. “I just hung out with my friends.”
Hernandez also spent much of the offseason on Venezuela’s preliminary roster for the World Baseball Classic, a position that drew the Mariners’ objections because they believe a young pitcher in such an event would be exposed to injury.
The WBC’s technical committee ruled last week that Hernandez won’t play, and he’s not disappointed that he won’t play.
“I’m really not ready physically to compete, so I don’t want to embarrass myself that way,” he said.
Hernandez said he was never pressured in his home country to play in the tournament, and a recent report that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez called him was incorrect.
“Rafael Chaves called me, but not Hugo Chavez,” Hernandez said.
In the long run, that may be a more productive phone call for Hernandez and the Mariners.
Rafael Chaves is the Mariners’ new pitching coach and he has worked extensively with Hernandez in the minor leagues.
“He really deserves the job and it’s going to be great working with him,” Hernandez said. “When I worked with him, it wasn’t like working with a pitching coach. It was like working with a friend.”
Thrilled to be here: Chaves, in the major leagues for the first time, said he’s still just as excited about being the Mariners’ pitching coach as he was the day the team hired him in November.
“Every day when I wake up, I remind myself that I am a major league pitching coach,” he said.
Chaves worked in the minor leagues with many of the Mariners’ pitchers – such as Hernandez, Joel Pineiro, Gil Meche and J.J. Putz – he said the relationships he built then should become a positive now.
“I believe it helps me a lot, having a background with a lot of these pitchers,” he said. “Modern-day players, they like to interact, they like to be friendly and they need a person next to them that they trust.”
Value for the money: Among those who answered fans’ questions Saturday was Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln, and he made it clear he will not accept another last-place performance.
One fan suggested the Mariners increase their player payroll in order to put the team on the verge of a championship like the Super Bowl-bound Seahawks.
“We have one of the biggest major league player payrolls in baseball,” Lincoln responded. “Last year, we began the season with a $95 million payroll and we ended up at a little over $99 million. This year’s is higher than it was last year.
“What we need to do is get maximum performance out of the people we are paying $99 million to. Our goal is to get this team back to the playoffs and to get to the World Series. If the Seahawks can do it, we can, too.”
New year, new attitude: Jeremy Reed said he tried his best to ignore the constant trade rumors in the offseason, focusing much of his thoughts on his hitting.
The Mariners’ starting center fielder struggled at the plate much of his rookie season, finishing with a .254 batting average.
“Hitting-wise, I was kind of lost last year,” he said. “Toward the end of the season, there were a lot of things people were saying to me, and I was lost.”
Reed never lost confidence, however, and enters the 2006 season having learned a lot about himself because of the struggles last year.
“I learned how to handle failure, I learned how to manage it,” Reed said. “Confidence is something I’ve always had and it’s something I’ll probably never lose. I really feel like I’m in a different position now. I’m way more prepared.”
Reed spent five days this month working with new hitting coach Jeff Pentland, who predicts the center fielder will hit better in 2006.
“We made a lot of progress,” Pentland said. “I’m not one to put expectations on people, but I think you’re going to see a different Jeremy Reed this year.”
Reed said his family and friends spent more time dwelling on trade rumors than he did. The most prevalent rumor had him going to the Boston Red Sox.
“My agent loved it because my name was flying around everywhere,” Reed said. “My dad was looking at the Internet every day. But I didn’t pay attention. I was busy trying to become the player I know I can be. I was always setting myself up (mentally) to be a Mariner. I was never setting myself up to be traded.”
Saying the right things: Saturday was Japanese catcher Kenji Johjima’s first meeting with M’s fans, and he handled their questions perfectly, especially in the mind of pitcher Jamie Moyer, who was on the stage with him during one session.
“Who is your favorite Mariner?” one fan asked Johjima.
Without hesitation, he said, “Jamie Moyer.”
Moyer grabbed the microphone and shouted: “Good answer!”
Papa J.J.: Relief pitcher J.J. Putz came to Safeco Field with pictures of his newborn twin daughters and plenty of stories about being a new father.
Putz’s wife, Kelsey, gave birth to the girls, Lauren and Kaelyn, on Nov. 2.
“I was in shock through the whole thing,” Putz said.
About six weeks into fatherhood, he also learned to keep his shirt on around breastfeeding babies.
“Kelsey had one of them and I was lying on the couch with the other,” Putz said. “I didn’t have a shirt on, and all of a sudden I felt something latching onto me. I kind of jumped and said, ‘Woah! Nothing’s coming out of that one!’ “
One more day: The first day of the two-day FanFest drew more than 5,000 to Safeco Field on Saturday. The event ends today with player interviews and autograph sessions, exhibits, clubhouse tours and activities from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Mariners personnel scheduled to appear are Hernandez, Johjima, Reed, Putz, Chaves, Pentland, first baseman Richie Sexson, infielder Greg Dobbs, pitcher Jarrod Washburn and manager Mike Hargrove.
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