In his first full season since Tommy John surgery, Jose Fernandez has answered every question and erased all doubts on the way to his second All-Star selection.
Yes, he is pitching better than before surgery on his right elbow, more dominant than in his Rookie of the Year season of 2013.
That is most evident in the Miami Marlins ace piling up strikeouts at a near-record rate, even while claiming all season that strikeouts aren't a priority.
Through 17 starts, Fernandez is averaging better than one for every three batters faced (36.6 percent). His average of 12.91 whiffs per nine innings leads the major leagues by a comfortable margin; Max Scherzer is next at 11.56.
Hall-of-famers Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson are the only starting pitchers to exceed Fernandez's strikeout pace over a full season.
Martinez, in 1999, fanned a record 37.5 percent of hitters he faced while averaging 13.20 per nine innings. Johnson set the mark of 13.41 strikeouts per nine innings when he led the Diamondbacks to the World Series championship in 2001 while mowing down 37.4 percent of batters.
At the urging of the Marlins, Fernandez has resisted his inclination to try to overpower every hitter. In the process he has learned it doesn't take max effort to amass strikeouts.
He has reduced the average velocity and use of his fastball. Yet his 154 strikeouts are a record for the Marlins before the All-Star break and rank second in the majors to Scherzer (164), who has 20 1/3 more innings.
"I think it's just making pitches and not trying to make pitches," Fernandez said Sunday before heading to San Diego for the All-Star Game. "When the catcher calls a fastball away, it doesn't have to be 100 [mph], it can be 93 _ just down in the zone. I feel like I'm getting a lot better results like that."
Fernandez can still push his four-seamer velocity near triple-digits, which is partly a tribute to medical science and the work of Dr. Neal ElAttrache who rebuilt his elbow in May 2014 at the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic in Los Angeles. Also to the Fernandez's determined effort in rehabbing to regain All-Star form.
The results, which have him 11-4 and fifth in the National League with a 2.52 ERA, also reflect a maturing pitcher approaching his 24th birthday later this month.
"He's starting to become more and more mature when he gets in that situation to put somebody away, not trying to overthrow the ball," catcher J.T. Realmuto said. "He'll place it where he wants to, whether it be up and in, down and away.
"The slider, he'll place it more than trying throw through it and throwing it too hard. I think that's something that's come with maturity for him."
Fernandez's fastball this season has averaged 94.9 mph, nearly 1 mph less than in 2015, according to Fangraphs.
He has thrown the heater 54.5 percent of the time, compared to 57.3 percent in his rookie year of 2013. Meanwhile, he has made more frequent and effective use of that nasty slider, throwing it on nearly 25 percent of his pitches, almost twice as often as in his first season.
When Fernandez matched a career high by striking out 14 Mets on June 5, he put away 12 of them with the slider.
"He's just got electric stuff," Realmuto said. "There's not much else you can say about it. Not many pitchers out there can throw three plus-pitches for strikes at any time. I feel like he does a great job of keeping hitters off balance, and he's kind of got that killer instinct once he gets two strikes on a guy."
Nobody knows a pitcher better than his catcher, and Realmuto offered the definitive read on Fernandez: "He can say all he wants [that] he's not thinking about striking guys out, but he wants to put somebody away. And that's what you love out of a starting pitcher. You want guys to have that killer instinct, and he's definitely got it."
At the beginning of the season Fernandez had some issues with erratic command, particularly early in games, which drove his pitch count up and led to some truncated outings. He has been much sharper over the past two months, enabling him to get in favorable counts to finish off hitters.
The day he fanned 14 Mets, Fernandez didn't issue a walk. Only three other pitchers have done that, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
Teammates have learned to not be surprised by Fernandez's feats, whether it's his 25-1 career record at Marlins Park or the game-winning double he delivered as a pinch-hitter recently in Atlanta.
In May, the irrepressible Cuba native joined Martinez and Roger Clemens as the only pitchers in the modern era to go 6-0 with at least 50 strikeouts (a club-record 56) in that particular month.
Although not chosen as the starting pitcher for the NL (the Giants' Johnny Cueto got the nod), Fernandez is expected to see action early Tuesday, which would be his first appearance on the mound at Petco Park since May 9, 2014 when his elbow gave out during a start against the Padres.
Fernandez said the experience didn't sour him on San Diego, and he is excited about the chance to pitch there in his second All-Star Game.
"After Tommy John, it's an honor," Fernandez said. "Only a couple of people know all the work that I put in and the hard work that I've been doing. I'm happy that I got lucky to be a part of it."
