Royals' Fernandez finds groove, zeros

Lexington pitching coach Carlos Reyes thinks there is a big league pitcher in Pedro Fernandez. On Thursday night, that side of the right-hander finally came out to play.

The Royals prospect tossed six shutout innings for the Legends, allowing two hits while striking out six in the Legends' 7-4 win over Class A Delmarva. The right-hander improved to 5-1 with a 3.15 ERA in 16 appearances, including 11 starts.

The 21-year-old featured a fastball that worked between 94-96 mph, according to Reyes, and also had his best command of the season.

"He did a lot of good things," Reyes said. "He got ahead and threw strikes, especially with the fastball. … He was throwing it for strikes and getting ahead in counts, then throwing the slider for strikes, the changeup, mixing his pitches. He baffled them for six innings."

Reyes viewed the outing as a breakthrough for the native of the Dominican Republic but an inevitable one, considering his recent rate of improvement.

The numbers tell the story. After averaging 9.8 strikeouts per nine innings in his first 13 appearances, Fernandez has fanned 12.3 per nine over his past three, which largely reflects the way he's set up hitters with his heavy heater. The only issue was he lacked consistency in his command, leading to a high walk rate and inflated pitch counts.

That consistency came around on Thursday. Fernandez pounded the strike zone and held the Shorebirds without a free pass while throwing 57 of 84 pitches for strikes. The rapid improvements are the culmination of a season's worth of work adjusting his mechanics.

"His delivery has gotten so much better and more repeatable," Reyes said. "His arm slot is in a better position every time now to get that velocity.

"He was good, delivery-wise. This has been building up to this outing. His last three or four have been good. This one was pretty much just a matter of time for the other ones to roll into this one."

With the fastball command in check, Fernandez was able to go to his slider and changeup more often the second time through the Delmarva order. The changeup has long been his best off-speed pitch -- Reyes called it an "out pitch." But the slider is a recent development.

Fernandez scrapped his old off-speed offering -- a curveball -- in favor of the slider. His improved delivery has allowed him to better control the breaking ball and gives him a viable third pitch to go with the fastball and change.

"The slider is developing into an out pitch for him," Reyes said. "When he's mechanically on, he has all his pitches. That's what he's been doing. His walks are down, the strikeouts are up. His stuff is good enough that he just needs to get it over the plate."

Fernandez retired the final 10 batters he faced, including swinging strikeouts of three of the last five batters.

The six-inning stint tied a career high -- he threw six scoreless against Savannah on July 26, 2014.

"With young kids, you're always staying on top of their deliveries and getting a routine," Reyes said. "Pedro has gotten pretty mature at this point, has really kind of grown into the pitcher he is now. It's pretty exciting, watching him go out there and do what he's doing now. He has the ability to pitch in the big leagues. It's all there."