By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

On Sunday we were all hit with shocking and tragic news: Marlins ace right hander Jose Fernandez was killed in a boating accident. He was 24 years old.

Fernandez’s death hit me a lot harder than I might have predicted. He wasn’t on my team – as a die-hard Braves fan, I should have been inclined to root against him – but he was still a player that I absolutely loved to watch. I wasn’t the only one.

His popularity was boosted by his incredible story; three failed attempts to defect from Cuba, the rescuing of his mother after she fell off of their raft during their fourth (and finally successful) attempt, the reunion with his beloved grandmother years later; he persevered through so much to get to where he was.

Fernandez was drafted in the first round, an All-Star, and an ace on a young and upcoming team. He was a cultural icon too, a Cuban star in Miami, where a huge Cuban population resides. And he was so, so good at baseball.

After busting on to the scene in 2013 with a Rookie of the Year performance, Fernandez emerged as one of the best pitching talents in the game, not even letting a Tommy John surgery get in his way of blazing down the path towards greatness. He had already set a career high in wins in 2016, and with two more starts coming down the pipeline. He was a thrill to watch.

But he could have been the worst damn baseball player in history, and it wouldn’t have mattered one bit.

Jose Fernandez was an amazing player to watch play, because he loved playing baseball. God, he loved baseball. He loved baseball like I love baseball, like 8-year-olds love baseball. It was clear from the way he pitched, clear from the way he fielded, clear from the way he hit. His enthusiasm for the game shot out from him like sunbeams, affecting everyone watching in the stadium or on TV.

I remember watching a game he pitched against the Braves a few years back. Freddie Freeman was lighting him up; blasting a home run, then knocking a roaring double; when Freeman got to second, Fernandez grinned at him and asked him how to get him out.

I remember telling people after that game that baseball needed more people like this guy. He smiled through his ups and his downs, and even though he competed hard against the other teams, he was still just having a blast playing a game with them.

I also remember him hitting a home run against the Braves, and Brian McCann thinking that Fernandez admired it a bit too long and confronted him at home plate. It was a fairly minor altercation, but was the first of a handful of incidents where the Braves and Fernandez butted heads over the years.

The most recent event was just a few weeks ago, with pitches thrown and benches cleared. Maybe it’s a sign of how much I just liked Fernandez that I distinctly remembered being more upset at my own team during that last one.

Normally, when a player gets into an altercation with my Braves, I swear them off for good (Carlos Gomez, Bryce Harper, Melky Cabrera); but I couldn’t do that with Fernandez.

He was the rare player that transcended team loyalty. If you loved baseball, you were his fan.

Jose Fernandez was going to be one of the all-time greats, people will say. He had the talent. We lost him just four years into his career, just 24 years into what should have been a long and wonderful life; but he played the game with an exuberance I honestly don’t think I’d seen before and haven’t seen since.

He was an ambassador for the game, an example of the joy that baseball brings to people. I’m going to miss seeing him on the diamond. Jose Fernandez was going to be one of the all-time greats, people will say. Well I watched him play. Jose Fernandez IS one of the all-time greats.