Prospect Flashback: Javier Martinez

For me the major league Rule 5 draft is always an exciting time. Maybe because being a Pirates fan over the last 18 years I’ve come to realize that the team won’t be signing any high priced or even marginally priced free agent talent so the chance to steal someone from another organization for next to nothing is at least one thing to look forward to. Back in the old days and I use that term loosely, the talent that could be acquired in the Rule 5 was a little better then it is today. Grant you, it was still watered down but with rule changes in the last decade enabling teams to hold onto players for that extra year it’s diluted the talent even more. None the less, to me personally, it’s always exciting to take a chance on a young player and see if you can strike gold.

Following the 97 season, Javier Martinez was a little known, hard throwing Puerto Rican righthander from the Cubs Organization, a former 3rd round pick by them in the 94 draft. He had missed a good bit of the 96 season while recovering from elbow surgery so the 97 season was pretty much a waste for him while he recovered. While pitching that off season in his native Puerto Rico he adjusted his mechanics some and managed to get a little more life on his pitches, touching 95 MPH. Apparently intrigued by him and his new found power arm the Pirates paid the Oakland A’s $100,000 to draft Martinez with the first overall pick and send his rights to the Pirates. The Pirates used Martinez sparingly throughout the 08 season mainly using him in games that were pretty much out of hand. Despite the limited play, his number were more than respectable, he posted an 0-1 record in 37 appearances and striking out 42 batters in 41 innings pitched. The one major problem he encountered was his control, walking 34 batters. That was something that dogged him throughout his minor league career and something that hopefully more minor league seasoning would rectify. All in all it was a promising debut for the young Martinez and one that the Pirates had hoped to build off of. Unfortunately an arm injury that he suffered during spring training in 99 killed any chance of him making the team when they broke camp for that season. He missed a vast majority of the season with injuries and when he was healthy he struggled in his appearances with both AA Altoona and High A Hickory. By the time November of 99 rolled around, the Pirates had designated him for assignment to make room for younger players that needed to be protected, most notably Rico Washington and Humberto Cota. Martinez was eventually released by the team in December of that year probably due to the injury issues, but I’ve been unable to find any articles that reference an exact reason for the release.

Martinez managed to make a go of it for a total of 11 seasons, hanging around in the Reds farm system for a few years then catching on with Baltimore and even a Mexican League team but never again was able to make the majors. Probably the most success he had over his professional career was the one season he worked mop up duty in the Pirates pen. I can only imagine that the Pirates had fairly lofty plans for him going forward since he projected to being a back of the bullpen power arm or even a possible closer given time but the injuries seemed to derail any chances of that happening. Although his time in the Pirates organization was short, he still made an impact, albeit a small one, with the franchise. It was for his work that one season that makes him my favorite Pirates Rule 5 pick in recent history, now we wait and see if Donnie Veal or Evan Meek can steal that title away from him.