King, Felix at Fan Fest

January 30, 2006 · Filed Under Mariners · 29 Comments 

From Kirby Arnold at the Everett Herald:

The Mariners’ 19-year-old right-hander arrived at Safeco Field on Saturday for the first day of the team’s FanFest as the new owner of a frosted-blond hairdo, a couple of diamond earrings, a fancy pickup truck and a Shih tzu puppy named “King.”

King Felix, as Hernandez has been called by those who consider him as baseball’s best young pitching prospect, hopes to match the flash with substance on the mound in 2006.

Not the hair! Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

And for all the noise over whether he’d compete in the WBC, he didn’t seem that upset that he’s not going:

The WBC’s technical committee ruled last week that Hernandez won’t play, and he’s not disappointed that he won’t play.

“I’m really not ready physically to compete, so I don’t want to embarrass myself that way,” he said.