Turner says Fernandez was ‘rare combination’

CHICAGO — Jacob Turner has a pretty easy and extraordinarily complimentary way to describe the baseball presence that was Jose Fernandez, his rotation mate with the Marlins in 2013 and teammate for part of ’14, who tragically passed away Sunday morning in a boating accident.

It would mix the energy, passion and pure enjoyment of a Little League player with the talent of a perennial Cy Young contender.

“Baseball is a game of a lot of clichés, but I think some of those things really apply to Jose,” said the White Sox reliever of Fernandez. “You talk about competing on the mound and having fun playing baseball, there wasn’t anybody who had more fun and still competed at the level that he did.

“That’s such a rare combination to have. Obviously it’s just sad for, first and foremost his family, his teammates, anybody who has played with him, his friends and baseball in general. Everybody sees what he is on the field, but off the field just a really great person.”

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