By every measure, Felix Hernandez had one of the worst seasons of his career last year. To be fair, “worst” is a relative term in this context. Many pitchers would love to have a season like Hernandez’s in 2015, but there’s a reason we call Hernandez the king.
Still, there was plenty of reason to be concerned about Hernandez coming into this season. He posted his worst ERA (3.53) since 2007. His FIP (3.72) hadn’t been that high in seven years. His strikeout rate (23.1%) and WHIP (1.18) were both the worst he’d posted since 2011, while his K/9 reached a new five-year low.