With the 2026 season nearing its end, the Miami Marlins’ pitching history still includes plenty of arms worth remembering. But few left a mark like José Fernández.
Ten years ago today, the baseball world lost the 2013 National League Rookie of the Year and two-time All-Star in a boating crash in the early morning hours of Sept. 25, 2016.
Fernández was operating his boat when it hit a jetty at Miami Beach before dawn. Later investigations found that he was traveling 65 miles per hour while under the influence of drugs.
The crash killed Fernández, who was 24, along with both passengers: 27-year-old Emilio Macias and 25-year-old Eduardo Rivero.
The loss hit South Florida hard and left a lasting stain on a career that had barely begun to bloom. It also devastated the Marlins organization and Fernández’s family.
He left behind a daughter who had not yet been born. Just days before the crash, Fernández and his pregnant girlfriend had announced they were expecting their first child.
For all the pain tied to his death, Fernández’s talent on the mound remains impossible to ignore. At 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds, with a breaking ball that could be downright nasty, he went 38-17 across four big league seasons and finished with a 2.58 ERA.
Even now, Fernández still owns Miami single-season records for fewest hits allowed per nine innings and strikeouts. He remains the franchise’s career leader in win percentage and sits inside the top 10 in Marlins history in wins, strikeouts and complete games.
In Other News...
Why Jose Fernandezs Death Still Hits So Hard In Miami
Nearly a decade later, Jose Fernandez still sits at the center of one of the most painful chapters in Marlins history, because his loss was never just about a pitcher. He was one of the most electric young arms in baseball and a player who had already become deeply tied to Miami, where his energy, talent and personality made him a fan favorite almost immediately. When he died in a boating crash off Miami Beach on Sept. 25, 2016, along with two other men, the shock rippled far beyond the ballpark and into a city that had embraced him as one of its own.
The aftermath only deepened the anguish. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission later concluded Fernandez was piloting the boat at high speed while impaired by alcohol and cocaine, a finding that left his legacy wrapped in tragedy as well as admiration. The Marlins and other MLB teams honored him after his death, but the lingering pain in Miami comes from how abruptly his story ended and how much promise was lost with it. [Read more 🡒]