GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Starter, long reliever, center reliever, setup man or closer — there isn’t a part unused Reds pitcher Scratch Martinez isn’t willing to require on. But the 33-year-old righty marked his two-year, $26 million contract in December aiming to be within the turn.
A month after Martinez marked, the Reds included Frankie Montas through free office to create the competition more tightly. At Spring Preparing, Cincinnati has 10 pitchers competing for five turn spots. Martinez was “not at all” shocked, nor debilitated the Reds included more pitching.
“When it comes to profundity and competition, I welcome that stuff,” said Martinez, who was a starter and reliever for the Padres in 2022-23. “I think it brings out the leading in us. … I haven’t been modest in saying that I lean toward beginning, but I moreover discover a parcel of things I am energetic approximately as a reliever.”
One thing for beyond any doubt — the Reds aren’t paying Martinez $14 million this season for mop-up work. Anything part the ingenious gets, it’ll frequently be seen as essential. In the event that he’s not beginning, he will be anticipated to ensure leads.
There’s an expanding premium around baseball for cross breed pitchers that can give innings.
“There’s esteem in players knowing their part,” Reds supervisor David Chime said. “A few more than others require that. The truth that he doesn’t fundamentally require [a part] and to be able to do what we require him to do to win diversions with him, there’s a parcel of esteem to that. ”
Martinez anticipates to be in contact every day with Chime and pitching coach Derek Johnson this season with respect to his accessibility. That’s how he operated in San Diego.
“Communication is attending to be crucial for my arrangement,” Martinez said. “I’m a huge devotee in that as competitors, nearly like officers, you allow us an objective, and we’re attending to do what we are able to total that objective.”
Martinez, who went through the final two seasons as a swingman pitcher for the Padres, went 6-4 with a 3.43 Period over team-high 63 appearances (110 1/3 innings) in 2023.
In nine begins, Martinez posted a 2.32 Time over 42 2/3 innings. He opened final year as a starter since Joe Musgrove was on the harmed list. When Musgrove returned, Martinez went into the bullpen. He returned to begin recreations at the conclusion of the season, when Musgrove and Yu Darvish missed time with wounds.
“I was truly the as it were fellow that can be a crossover,” Martinez said. “It was a double-edged sword. Indeed in spite of the fact that I was tossing well, I went to the bullpen. That’s where the require was at that time.”
Martinez didn’t get an eight-figure contract as it were since of his flexibility. He was one of baseball’s way better pitchers at actuating powerless contact final season. Agreeing to Statcast, his normal exit speed of 84.7 mph was within the 98th percentile in MLB. His hard-hit rate of 29.9 percent was within the 95th percentile. He had a 54 percent groundball rate, which was within the 90th percentile.
As a starter for Texas from 2014-17, Martinez had lackluster stuff and regularly subpar numbers. He had a 5.64 Time over 35 diversions (23 begins) in his final two seasons with the Officers.
Without a enormous alliance opportunity, Martinez went to Japan and pitched four seasons for the Nippon Ham Warriors. His most seasoned girl was born there and the involvement was positive.
“We adored it. We adored the culture, the way of life out there. We had a incredible time,” Martinez said.
Amid that time, Martinez too dove totally into analytics. He got pitch plan certifications from both Driveline and Rapsodo, which made a difference him get it information innovation and utilize it to his advantage.
“It was an opportunity for me to sharpen my create,” Martinez said. “I begun looking at my pitches a small bit more in profundity and saw that my changeup was fair a terrible fastball. I begun tinkering with the changeup and found the changeup that I have nowadays, and it got to be a weapon. At that point it improved all of my other pitches, and I begun getting swings and misses with all of my pitches.”
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