Eduardo Perez distraught over passing of Jose Fernandez

Former Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez passed away at the age of 24 in a boating accident, and ESPN analyst and fellow Cuban Eduardo Perez is devastated.

On Sunday morning, we all woke up to the news of Jose Fernandez being killed a boating accident. Fernandez was supposed to start on Sunday afternoon against the Atlanta Braves. With the tragic news coming down, Major League Baseball made the correct move of cancelling the contest.

In the wake of this unspeakable tragedy, ESPN anchor Hannah Storm sat down for a powerful interview with her colleague Eduardo Perez, a former MLB player and later a coach for two years with the Marlins in 2011 and 2012, getting to know Fernandez on a deeper level. With both men being from Cuba, Perez and Fernanfdez had obvious ties and became close, as Perez details beautifully in this interview.

Toward the end of the interview, Storm asks Perez how he hopes his fallen friend is remembered.

“As a player that found a way. As a player first, he found a way to get people in the stands in Miami. As a person, pure life. Pure life. Rest in peace.”

It was gut-wrenching to watch. Perez bares his soul for more than nine minutes on live television, trying to encapsulate a life gone way too soon. Fernandez was something of an icon to say the least in the Latino community, having reached America at the age of 15 alongside his mother, whom he saved from drowning during the trip.

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This is simply one of those losses that doesn’t make sense. Nobody that young should ever pass away, let alone someone who was a bright light to so many.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time.