Joe Skipper/Getty Images
A Marlins fan lays flowers down at a memorial site for Jose Fernandez near Marlins Park.
Miami Marlins pitcher José Fernández died in a boat crash on Sunday. Now reports are emerging that he was seen partying at a waterfront bar in the hours leading up to the crash and that the team had become worried about their star pitcher's off-field behavior.
According to TMZ Sports, Fernández and one of the other people killed in the crash were seen a popular Miami waterfront "party spot" around 2:00 am Sunday morning. The restaurant has a dock that can be accessed by boaters and is said to be a "short distance" from the crash site.
Sources for Dan Le Batard of ESPN and the Miami Herald have told him that Fernández was drinking that night.
"He left that bar with a bottle of Don Julio [tequila]," Le Batard said on ESPN Radio. "It's a bar you can pull up to in your boat and I know he was drinking."
Le Batard went on to say that the Marlins had grown worried about the 24-year-old's behavior away from the ballpark.
"The Marlins were worried about his off-field behavior," Le Batard said. "If this life was lost in a way that was reckless ... If drinking was involved, it doesn't make it any less tragic, but it does make it more reckless."
It is unknown who was driving the boat when it crashed. The boat was traveling at full speed (approximately 60 mph) when it crashed into a jetty of rocks, according to ABC 10 in Miami. Three people died in the crash.
Gaston De Cardenas/AP
Investigators examine the crash site where Jose Fernandez and two others were killed.