I’m just getting around to Baseball Instinct’s post on Carlos Martinez. Even if you don’t want to read the post (you should though) go check out the 11 minute video. I love the curveball in on the hands of the hitter at 4:50. There’s not a lot about Martinez’s mechanics that I don’t like — I don’t have the same concerns about his plant leg and the relationship to the arm as the Baseball Instinct guys do. I think the comments about his arm coming back and him stopping it “unnaturally” are appropriate though it’s unclear to me how much undue stress that’s really causing on the arm.
Martinez is undersized for what you’d consider an average MLB pitcher and if anything that’s my biggest concern. His mechanics are so good that it helps mitigate those worries. The only other nitpick I’d have is that the follow through on his leg kick doesn’t leave him in a great spot to field the ball. There’s also a couple of pitches were he slips in the video because of the kick. That really is small peanuts in the grand scheme of a pitching prospect though.
I had Martinez as the fourth best prospect on the list last year behind Shelby Miller, Zach Cox and an very high opinion of Matt Carpenter. Some of that was his lack of any stateside pitching prior to 2011. It’s hard to see Carlos Martinez not outranking everyone not named Miller on a 2012 FR prospect list, which Jeff and I are currently at work on.
The Cardinals young, prized Dominican hurler, Carlos Martinez has been showing signs of wearing down as this season has worn on and I think it is time for the Cardinals to think about limiting his innings by pulling a Swagerty and putting him in the bullpen for the rest of the year.
From last night’s name at Busch Stadium, here is Carlos Martinez delivering a strikeout inducing fastball. (Please ignore my odd conversation and dulcet tones. I’m not home, so I can’t strip the audio track out of it. Sorry!) After the jump, one pitch from relievers Aiden Lucas and Justin Wright.
Let’s take a look at the Quad Cities roster in cheat sheet format for you to print out before the game or access on some sort of smartphone during the game to make you look smarter to your friends and random people sitting around you. It’s all after the jump. (natch)
No. 1 prospect Shelby Miller, a righthanded pitcher, and No. 2 prospect, third baseman Zack Cox, have been assigned to the High-A Palm Beach club.
The Cardinals are not in a position to confirm the assignment, but it’s expected that Martinez will continue pitching in extended spring training rather than join the full-season rotation in Quad Cities.
All three assignments make sense. Miller moves up a level. Cox gets his first full season ball experience in Palm Beach. Martinez continues his education before moving to Quad Cities this summer. Smart move by the Cardinals, no reason to push Martinez when he is still new to the country.
As far as Quad Cities, I think their rotation will be fine for the time being:
Assigned to the Quad Cities No. 1 roster as RHP Seth Blair, RHP Jordan Swagerty and RHP Trevor Rosenthal.
Andrew Moses is down in Jupiter watching the minor league teams. Lucky for us he sent along some video of Carlos Martinez. I’ve got three clips after the jump of Martinez throwing to live hitters.
Class, can we say “thank you, Andrew”? Thanks, Andrew.
The second video is the best, in my opinion. One thing to watch is how little the catcher’s mitt is moving. That’s usually a sign that the pitcher is hitting spots (and that the catcher is decent at receiving pitches). You don’t see the backstop stabbing wildly at pitches in these clips.
(I’m indisposed with work and home buying activities. Apologies for spotting posting lately.)
Carlos Martinez threw in Jupiter on Saturday. Joe Strauss has a quick historical synopsis at the P-D. Some fun quotes at the end:
But even before Martinez took the mound, Mozeliak saw the new man in camp throwing in the outfield and uttered “wow.”"These kind of days are always great,” Mozeliak said. “It’s a little bit like the anticipation before Christmas.”
There’s also some (limited) video of Martinez from Saturday via the Cardinals homepage.
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