X-man was poster model for pitchers being aggressive

Xavier Hernandez remembers the night like it was yesterday. Acquired by Houston from his first major league team, the Toronto Blue Jays, the former TJ great had to prove himself in the spring of 1990 to earn a roster spot with Art Howe's Astros. And he'd done exactly that.

"We flew back to Houston from spring training and I drove over to the Astrodome," he recalls. "It was late at night. I walked out and stood behind the mound and said to myself, 'Wow, I can't believe I'm here.' I had watched countless games from up in the rainbow seats, but never in my wildest dreams did I see myself down there pitching."

Hernandez would have three different stints with the Astros over a 10-year career, before arm problems forced him to retire in 1999. Working mostly out of the bullpen, he walked away with a won-loss record of 40-35, a most respectable 3.90 ERA and an impressive 562-to-266 strike-out to walk ratio. The apex was going 9-1, with a 2.11 ERA for Houston in 1992.

Those accomplishments, plus the fact he pitched TJ to the 1983 state championship, made Hernandez a prime candidate to be honored by the Yellow Jacket Alumni Association. He'll be in town Thursday to be saluted, along with Elijah Burkins, Warren Wyble and Dr. Paul Colletti, at the YJAA's Crying Towel Dinner.

Though he doesn't throw baseballs for a living anymore, the X man is still involved in the game as pitching coach at Houston Baptist University. He recently earned degrees in psychology and sociology at HBU and is about to undertake work on a Masters in psychology.

"Hey, if you are going to be a pitching coach, you need to be a master of psychology. Especially to deal with those lefthanders," he says with a laugh.

Eventually, Hernandez thinks he'd like to coach on the professional level. That's probably several years down the road, however. With four children between the ages of two and 11, he's wants to be a stay-at-home dad. And, for now, he really enjoys teaching college-age pitchers.

For X, who took an aggressive, never-back-down mentality to the mound, the biggest challenge as a coach is reversing what he sees as a disturbing trend at all levels of baseball.

"The game has become so offensive that pitchers don't take what is theirs," he explains. "I see so much defensive pitching. That's one thing I fight tooth and nail. You have to get guys to trust their fast ball and not be afraid. You have to pound the ball inside and be willing to knock people down."

It was just such a philosophy which helped Hernandez be an effective pitcher without overpowering stuff. Ingrained with that attitude while pitching for the University of Southwestern Louisiana, he refused to let hitters dig in on him. Had baseball kept a stat on hitters sent sprawling, he'd have been high on the list.

Perhaps the most memorable example of X asserting himself came in a game when he was pitching for Cincinnati against Houston. Here's how he remembers the great brawl of 1995.

"There was a play at the plate on which Pat Borders gave our catcher, Benito Santiago, what I thought was an unwarranted elbow," he said. "The next guy I faced was Brian Williams. I threw behind him and received a warning from the umpire. I struck out Williams to end that inning, then started the next inning by throwing an inside fastball to (Craig) Biggio.

"Biggio is up there wearing all that armor on his elbow and leans into the pitch. Now, I'm upset, so I throw up and in to (Jeff) Bagwell and drill him. And, man, it's on after that. A lot of so-called baseball brawls don't amount to anything. But this one was for real.

"As soon as I hit Baggy, I saw Mike Simms charge from the on-deck circle. The first guy I faced was Jesse Barfield. But then Doug Brocail jumped over him and sucker-punched me. I still give him a little hell over that."

The kicker to that story came during the next season, after Cincinnati released Hernandez. The first call he made was to Astro GM Gerry Hunsicker, who told him Houston was not interested. But Biggio and Bagwell intervened on X's behalf. They apparently went to the GM and encouraged him to sign Hernandez.

"The way I heard it, they went to Hunsicker, said he's a pretty decent reliever, we don't hold any grudges and, as a matter of fact, he has the kind of aggressive attitude we need on our staff. Bottom line is that the guys I drilled got me another go round in Houston."

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