King Felix has target numbers
Felix Hernandez told a radio station in Seattle he has certain statistical goals he'd like to reach before hanging up his spikes.
Hernandez was on The Bob, Dave and Moore Show on 710 ESPN on Tuesday and said he would like to get to 200 wins and 3000 strikeouts.
"If I can get to that goal, I'm gonna hang my spikes. I'm done," he said.
Hernandez currently has 169 wins and 2524 strikeouts, putting him 31 wins and 476 strikeouts shy of his goal.
Known as King Felix in his days with the Mariners, Hernandez signed a minor league contract with the Braves in January. He was pitching really well in the Grapefruit League before the spring was postponed.
Hernandez pitched in four games and had a 1.98 ERA. He allowed three earned runs on 13 hits in 13.2 innings, with five walks and 14 strikeouts.
The Braves were prepared to put him in the 2020 starting rotation, perhaps as the fifth starter.
With Cole Hamels still having issues that could slow his time to prepare for the season, Hernandez might still have a great chance to pitch as a starting pitcher if he does well once the spring restarts.
The Braves will have Mike Soroka, Max Fried, Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb likely hold down the other four spots in the rotation. Kyle Wright could also get some starts.
But with Hernandez driving for those impressive career numbers, the veteran will have incentive to help the Braves once the season starts.
Listen to The Bill Shanks Show weekdays at 3:00 p.m. ET on Middle Georgia’s ESPN. You can listen online at TheSuperStations.com. Follow Bill on Twitter at @billshanks and you can email him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.