Jared Fernandez
From SoSH
| Born: | February 2, 1972 |
| Birthplace: | Salt Lake City, Utah |
| Hometown: | |
| Height: | 6' 2" |
| Weight: | 223lbs |
| Bats: | Right |
| Throws: | Right |
| Drafted: | Undrafted Free Agent |
| College: | California State University (CA) |
| High School: | Fresno State |
| Other Teams: | Cincinnati Reds 2001-2002 Houston Astros 2003-2004 Milwaukee Brewers 2006 |
| Years with Boston: | None |
Signed as an undrafted free agent by the Boston Red Sox on June 23, 1994, Fernandez never appeared in Boston, but he made his major league debut on September 19, 2001.
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Overall Career
Though he signed with the Sox in 1994, Jared Wade Fernandez's major career advance didn't come until spring training of the following year, when he worked with the Niekro brothers and Tim Wakefield to become a knuckleball pitcher. Rearmed in this fashion, he dominated the New York Penn League over 38 innings before being called up to Trenton. The transition to Double A was a difficult one for Fernandez, though, and despite bouncing between Trenton and Pawtucket, he never found success at either level until 1999, when he posted solid campaigns in both places.
Jared's best year in the Sox organization came the following year, in 2000. Using his knuckleball as a secondary pitch to go with his mid-80s fastball, Jared posted a 3.02 ERA and was selected to the Triple A All-Star game. At the end of the season, though, Jared was granted free agency and went to the Reds.
After leaving the Red Sox, Fernandez got a brief callup to the majors in 2001 and another, slightly less brief callup in 2002, and he posted decent numbers in both stints. By this point, he had stopped relying so heavily on his fastball and began to throw his knuckleball most of the time. Following the 2002 season, Jared went to the Astros, where he cracked the rotation briefly in August; however, Jimy Williams' perpetually quick hook for starting pitchers rendered the knuckleballer's durability useless, and Jared soon found himself in the bullpen for the remainder of the year. After two disastrous outings in 2004, Fernandez bounced between the Triple A affiliates of the Astros, Phillies and Brewers. In 2006, Fernandez made four lackluster appearances for the Brewers before being demoted yet again. He signed a one-year contract to play in Japan with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp on December 9, 2006.
Awards
- 2000 Triple-A All-Star
Transactions
- June 23, 1994: Signed by the Boston Red Sox as a nondrafted Free Agent.
- October 15, 2000: Granted Free Agency.
- December 15, 2000: Signed as a Free Agent with the Cincinnati Reds.
- December 15, 2002: Released by the Cincinnati Reds.
- December 20, 2002: Signed as a minor league Free Agent with the Houston Astros.
- October 4, 2004: Granted Free Agency.
- December 16, 2004: Signed as a Free Agent with the Cincinnati Reds.
- July 7, 2005: Released by the Cincinnati Reds.
- August 1, 2005: Signed as a Free Agent with the Philadelphia Phillies to a minor league contract.
- October 15, 2005: Granted Free Agency.
- November 22, 2005: Signed as a Free Agent with the Milwaukee Brewers.
- December 9, 2006: Signed as a Free Agent with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, of the Japan Central League.
External links
- Baseball-Reference.com - Career Statistics and Analysis
- A 2006 article about Fernandez as a member of the Triple A Nashville Sound
