The Diamondbacks lost to the Baltimore Orioles Friday, but the biggest positive from that game was Justin Martinez’s dominant relief outing. Inheriting a runner on second in a 4-2 game, he began the game by striking out Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle on splitters to end the seventh. Then in the eighth inning, he faced four hitters with a walk and three strikeouts. In total, he faced seven batters, pitched to six hitters, and struck out five of them in 1 2/3 scoreless.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The five strikeouts are tied for the second most for a relief pitcher that faced seven hitters. The record is held by left-hander Randy Choate, who had six strikeouts in two scoreless innings on April 22, 2004. Seven other Diamondbacks have had five.
With Martinez, the question has never been stuff. Both his fastballs, the four-seamer and sinker, regularly touch 100+ MPH, setting a high gauge for hitters. Not only does he feature velocity, but also a slider and split-finger. The split-finger is his main swing-and-miss pitch, with 52.4% of the swings against it coming empty. He also has induced a 45% whiff rate or better on his sinker and slider. Simply put, when he’s on he’ll miss bats.
That type of arm profiles well for late innings, high leverage, and facing the heart of the opposing order. The command isn’t there yet for him to thrive in such a role, but he’s done a much better job of throwing strikes. The rate of pitches that land in the strike zone has improved drastically compared to last year, with his Zone% jumping from 41% to 51% and his first-pitch strike rate has jumped from 45% to 69%. He’s jumping ahead of hitters, putting them on the defensive knowing they have to respect 100 MPH, and putting himself in an excellent position to putaway hitters.
Martinez will need to execute better with two strikes, as he’s only recorded a strikeout on 14 of the 77 two-strike pitches he’s thrown. That’s the final hurdle in his development as a reliever. As he improves his results, he’ll see higher leverage situations out of the bullpen, testing his ability to throw strikes. The walk rate is still a bit elevated, standing at 17.4%,. so there is room for improvement. Should he cut down on the walks and improve the efficiency at putting away hitters, he’ll be on a short list of candidates to replace Paul Sewald as the Diamondbacks closer next season.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks and Arizona Cardinals for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
