Felix Hernandez

Félix Abraham Hernández (born April 8, 1986 in Valencia, Venezuela), nicknamed "King Félix", is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Seattle Mariners.

Hernández throws a fastball that has been clocked as high as 100 mph, although he does not rely entirely on overpowering velocity. Instead he often uses a two-seam fastball, which comes in just a bit slower but with more movement and sink as it approaches the batter. His repertoire of pitches also includes a hard curve, a split-finger fastball, and a slider, all of which he can throw extremely well (he avoided the slider early in his career because the team was concerned it might injure his arm).

Like some other pitchers, Hernández wears a long-sleeved undershirt beneath his uniform jersey. While typically this is done to keep the pitcher's arm from getting chilled, Hernández wears it even in the hottest weather. For him it serves to keep perspiration from running down his arms and interfering with his hand's grip on the baseball.

Hernández won the 2010 American League Cy Young Award as he finished the season 13–12 with a 2.27 ERA, 232 K's and 249.2 innings pitched, leading the league in all of the categories except wins. His 13 wins are the fewest by a starting pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in a non-shortened season (Fernando Valenzuela won 13 games in a strike-shortened season). He was also named the Sporting News AL Pitcher of the Year. The Baseball Prospectus Internet Baseball Awards named him its AL Cy Young Winner.

Hernández was named the Mariners' minor league pitcher of the year in 2004, a season that also saw him make an appearance in the Futures Game. He started with Inland Empire in the California League, before being promoted to Double-A San Antonio, and finished a combined 14-4 with a 2.95 ERA and 172 strikeouts in 149 1/3 innings pitched.

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Hernández represented his native Venezuela in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. In his first outing, he pitched four innings in relief, surrendering only one hit while not allowing a run. In his next game, Hernández shut out Puerto Rico over 4.2 innings.