Jose Fernandez obit

Marlins Pitcher Jose Fernandez Is Killed in a Boating Accident

He was not on the list.

Major League Baseball lost one of its best pitchers this weekend when a boat carrying Jose Fernandez of the Miami Marlins struck a pile of rocks and capsized, killing him and two other men aboard.

A Coast Guard crew discovered the crash early Sunday. Fernandez, 24, and the others almost certainly died on impact, the authorities said.

“The Miami Marlins organization is devastated,” the team said Sunday morning in a statement, adding, “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this very difficult time.”

A shrine appeared outside the Marlins’ stadium as fans stopped by to lay flowers, cards and signs bearing his jersey number, 16. That number was also painted onto the park’s pitching mound, where a single Marlins cap was placed.

Fernandez was with two friends in a 32-foot motorboat that smashed into a jetty that delineates the northern section of Miami’s deepwater channel, said Officer Lorenzo Veloz, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The channel, called Government Cut, is used by cruise ships and freighters to head into and out of the Atlantic Ocean. It sits on the southern tip of South Beach, a popular tourist destination in Miami Beach.

Officer Veloz said it could not be determined whether alcohol or drugs had been involved in the crash because the boat was badly damaged. Toxicology tests will be performed, he said. None of the men were wearing life vests.

Fernandez overcame great odds to reach such professional heights. He was jailed as a teenager for attempting to defect from Cuba. He succeeded on his fourth try, at age 15, saving his mother from drowning along the way.

He emerged as a baseball star at Braulio Alonso High School in Tampa, Fla., and was chosen by the Marlins in the 2011 draft. He reached the majors in 2013, when he was named the National League rookie of the year. In each of his four major league seasons, Fernandez had an E.R.A. below 3.00.

Fernandez’s boat appeared to have been heading south at full speed when it hit a rocky jetty and capsized, officials said. Credit Patrick Farrell/Miami Herald, via Associated Press

“He was one of our game’s great young stars who made a dramatic impact on and off the field since his debut in 2013,” Major League Baseball’s commissioner, Rob Manfred, said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, the Miami Marlins organization and all of the people he touched in his life.”

The two men who died with Fernandez have not yet been identified, but Officer Veloz said they were not athletes. He also said the three men ranged in age from 24 to 27. Fernandez was not the owner of the boat, a sturdy SeaVee, but his family told officials that he enjoyed boating.

The Coast Guard found the boat around 3:30 a.m. during a patrol from its nearby base. Coast Guard officers noticed the boat’s lights blinking above the rocks and stopped to investigate, Officer Veloz said.

“The boat is in very bad shape,” he said. “It does appear that the vessel went straight into the rocks.”

After the Coast Guard reported the crash, Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue divers and a marine patrol began to search for bodies, Officer Veloz said. The boat hit the rocks so hard that debris surrounded the wreckage.

Driving a boat at night can be dangerous and difficult, particularly for inexperienced boaters. There are no lights, and distances are difficult to judge. Even the glow from a cellphone or a GPS instrument can impair vision. The men were headed south, presumably toward home or a nearby marina.

Weather was not a factor, Officer Veloz said. There were no storms, and the water was not unusually choppy. Officer Veloz said officials had not determined whether the men were returning from a night of fishing or from an excursion.

“It’s totally different than driving by day,” he said. “You don’t have streetlights out on the ocean. There is no real view of the surrounding areas.”

Florida has the largest number of boaters in the United States and by far the longest list of boating accidents, injuries and deaths, according to state records from 2012. Boating regulations in the state are relatively loose, and the activity is governed by a patchwork of federal, state and local agencies.