Is Justin Martinez' Promotion Imminent?
Update: we have learned that Martinez has scrubbed his Instagram account of all mention of his promotion
As first picked up by our friends at PHNX, Justin Martinez has indicated he's being called up to the Majors. The team has still not announced their roster moves, with several potential moving parts pending. This story will be updated upon team announcement.
Martinez throws a 100 MPH four seam fastball, and has developed a devastating splitter to go along with it. When we interviewed him during the Arizona Fall League this past November he credited the splitter with helping him achieve great swing-and-miss numbers. Recently Fangraphs graded his splitter as 60 current, 70 future on the 20-80 scout grade scale.
Martinez was coming off Tommy John surgery in 2022 and made just 20 appearances during the minor league season and seven more in the Fall League. Invited to spring training this year he was optioned out fairly early during camp. His stuff impressed, but his command was not there and he clearly needed more time to learn how to harness it. Thought of all along as a potential mid season call up, Martinez has turned things around after difficult start to his season in Triple-A Reno.
Through his first five outings he walked 11 batters and allowed eight hits including two homers in 4.2 innings, giving up 12 runs as a result. Since then however he's been nearly unhittable and has found the strike zone often enough to be highly effective.
Over his last 20 games, 23.1 IP he's given up just three runs, just one earned, to post a 0.39 ERA. He's struck out 31 batters and walked 16 and hasn't given up a homer while allowing just a .167 Batting Average against. His overall strike rate is 60%.
Martinez has a colorful and likable personality and does not lack for confidence. If he can throw strikes 60% of the time in the majors his power swing and miss stuff will give Torey Lovullo another big weapon in the middle of games. He may work his way towards a high leverage role some day, but he'll need to establish himself as a consistent strike thrower in the majors long before he gets that opportunity.
