Felix's brotherly bond

[missionhockey21]

Felix's brotherly bond: Older Hernandez also a developing prospect
By JON PAUL MOROSI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

You saw it. You heard about it. You read the accounts on these pages.

One way or another, you have come to know the dreamy events at Safeco Field on Tuesday evening. Felix Hernandez was captivating in his first home start for the Mariners, a sanctuary of distinction in this dilapidated summer.

King Felix was welcomed warmly by the masses. He received standing ovations, as if the fans had known him for years -- when, in fact, few in the building knew much beyond the vitals: He is 19, right-handed, Venezuelan, and good.

If Seattle is lucky, Hernandez's story will become the city's nesting doll, opened over the coming months and years, one shell at a time.

Here is one of the first: He has a brother. He pitches, too.

Moises Hernandez is in his third year of professional baseball. He has a lean build (6 feet 1, 170 pounds) and a fastball that hovers between 93 and 95 mph. He has a nice slider and an improving changeup.

He is 0-3 with a 2.89 ERA in 10 appearances with the Aberdeen (Md.) IronBirds, a Baltimore Orioles affiliate. They compete in the New York-Penn League, similar to the low-Class A Northwest League.

You would presume, then, that he is Felix's younger brother. And you would presume wrongly.

Moises is 21.

Older is smaller, and bigger is younger, in the Hernandez family.

They are the youngest of Felix and Miriam Hernandez's four children. They have an older sister and older brother. They played sports, too, but not professionally.

Felix and Moises are the only members of their family in the United States. Their father, a retired truck driver, is not expected to see Felix pitch until September. So while they play a country apart, the brothers talk on the phone every day.

And baseball, Felix said, is a rare topic of discussion.

"We usually talk about family and stuff," Moises said by phone from Aberdeen this week, through interpreter Henry Lozado, an IronBirds right-hander. "We'll talk about baseball if it's a day one of us is pitching.

"Sometimes I'll ask him what to throw in certain situations, a 3-2 count. He'll tell me to go with the pitch I have the most confidence in."

Coach Felix. Why not? He has done everything else faster than expected. He used to be the smallest guy in the family -- as babies usually are -- but Moises recalled a rapid transformation when Felix was 16. He left their hometown of Valencia to play in a tournament. By the time Felix returned two weeks later, he was bigger.

It happened that fast, Moises said. Asked to corroborate his brother's account, Felix smiled and nodded.

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[missionhockey21]

I really have not read many stories on King Felix as a person, just his wicked stuff, so this was enjoyable to read. It sounds like Felix has a real good head on his shoulders and it's cool to hear that there is no rivalry between him and his bro. And that his older brother Moises respects him so much that he will ask his opinion on what to do in different pitch count situations.

[Porter]

Felix doesnt speak much english, but it helps that Wiki Gonzalez is his catcher. I dont know how other catchers are going to handle him but Wiki knows what he can and cant do.