I’ve been a big fan of Joe Martinez over the last few years. He’s not an exciting prospect, but he’s pitched well at each level he’s played at. He gets groundballs and doesn’t walk hitters — be still my heart. So, you can imagine my reaction when I heard he’s the favorite for the long relief spot on the Giants. Joe pitched quite well in one of the remaining tune-up games last night against the A’s. He pitched 3 innings, gave up 3 hits, walked 1, and struck out 2 batters. He also induced 5 groundballs to just 2 flyouts. Not bad. I didn’t see him pitch on TV, but the Giants radio announcers sounded impressed with Joe’s performance. Thankfully even though I didn’t get to see Joe on TV, the PFX system at AT&T recorded his 3 innings.

Let’s check them out:

I’m honestly not sure what MLBAM is calling a ‘FT’ but I assume it’s a tailing fastball aka a 2-seam fastball. It’s obviously a fastball and it’s got more horizontal movement than the 4-seamer, so it makes some sense calling it a 2-seam.

Quick Thoughts

• Martinez is getting pretty awesome horizontal movement with his fastball. The 2-seamer is breaking in on right-handed batters at an average of 11.5 inches. His 4-seam is breaking in a little less at 9.5 inches. That’s really great horizontal movement on a fastball. Both were thrown around 90mph — that’s about average velocity for a starter in the NL.
• Martinez primarily threw a fastball — 23 pitches out of 33 were fastballs — but he also mixed in a curveball and changeup. Both pitches were between 77-78mph. The curve isn’t a big-looping thing, it’s got a tighter break at 3.7 vertical inches.
• There’s a healthy 10mph difference between his heater and changeup.

Nice appearance from Martinez. I hope he makes the team as a spot-starter / longman. I’ve got a thing for pitchers who throw strikes, get groundballs, and don’t walk hitters.