PHILADELPHIA – A smiling, upbeat reminder of better times for the Cincinnati Reds spent All-Star Week across the way in the dugout and clubhouse opposite the Reds’ fresh-faced All-Star tandem of Chase Burns and Sal Stewart.
Nick Martinez is also at opposite ends of the baseball world from the last-place Reds as Cincinnati and the American League East-leading Tampa Bay Rays open the second half of the season this weekend chasing the same dreams but living far different realities.
So we’ve all finally discovered that Martinez is, indeed, the secret ingredient for any team that wants to get better, baseball’s magic dust.
“I don’t know if I’m that guy,” Martinez, the former Reds pitcher, said with a laugh, but then added, “My priority’s always been to win. If a team’s looking to win, then that’s what I’m going to help, to pull the team in that direction.”
The Reds certainly understood Martinez’s influence and value after his successful season in Cincinnati in 2024, making him the club’s highest-paid player last year with a $22 million qualifying offer.
The value-added nature of Martinez on the mound for the Reds was apparent when he opened in the rotation for a slow-rolling Andrew Abbott out of spring training, then went back-and-forth from the rotation and bullpen as needed – at one point asking to pitch in relief between starts to help an ailing pen.
The bigger influence might have been in the clubhouse for a young pitching staff that fed off his competitiveness – a high-energy focus that manifested most conspicuously in his pacing in the dugout between innings of his starts.
“What he did was real. I mean, really real,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “He’s the best.”
Is it a coincidence that the Reds went south when Martinez went to Tampa Bay as a free agent once the Reds deemed they had enough pitching depth and needed the recouped salary to add in other areas?
Maybe.
But the Rays say it’s no coincidence they got better when they got Martinez – citing his influence as a big part of the team going from a fourth-place, losing season to the best record in the American League at this year’s All-Star break.
“Bigger than anyone thinks,” Rays closer Bryan Baker said.
What’s certain is that three weeks shy of his 36th birthday, Martinez was in the first All-Star game of a well-traveled and well-respected – if sometimes overlooked – big-league career.
“It’s been an absolutely wild ride,” said Martinez, who pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning for the American League’s 4-0 All-Star Game victory over the NL, striking out Philadelphia’s Brandon Marsh along the way.
Wild ride?
A 2011 draft pick of the Texas Rangers, Martinez debuted in 2014, struggled for four seasons, then spent four successful seasons in Japan and returned to produce a 3.50 ERA in 630 innings for the Padres, Reds and Rays the past 4 1/2 seasons.
“This is nothing that I’ve ever really set my intentions on, of being an All-Star,” he said. “I’m just very fortunate and blessed to be here. It’s been awesome working with the guys in Tampa, with (pitching coach Kyle Snyder), and the guys that I have in the locker room – giving me a lot of energy.
“I wouldn’t be here without those guys.”
On the other hand where would the Rays be without Martinez’s 8-2, 2.65-ERA presence in the Rays’ rotation and influence on those around him.
“He’s been a massive piece of our clubhouse, our vocal leader,” Baker said. “And then he does it by example, too. Just the way he competes, the way he paces around the dugout, how fired up he gets, how invested in the team he is.
“Having somebody who’s been around for that long and played in so many different places, and somebody that everybody respects like that, it’s been huge for us.”
It’s way too easy to do the sports-media non-correlation/correlation thing and suggest that’s what the Reds are missing this year.
Fact is they are missing some of that. Bigger fact is they’ve had too many guys miss time and otherwise simply declined in other areas they showed modest improvement last year (read: fielding, scoring, getting on base).
“It’s been a tough go for those guys,” Martinez said. “I keep an eye on them. Obviously, I’ve still got a lot of good buddies over there, and I talk to those guys. They’re going through it, but there’s still a lot of season left.”
Wherever the dust settles on what’s left after the Aug. 3 trade deadline, the Reds may at least feel the legacy of the Martinez Effect – baseball’s magic dust – as they try to take their next steps toward competing again.
“I know he had a pretty big influence on me,” said first-time All-Star Chase Burns (11-1, 2.54), who watched and picked Martinez’s brain regularly after debuting in June last year. “A lot of his influence came with off-the-field stuff, just the mental game.”
Baker feels that. He said he doesn’t think the Rays would be where they are this year without Martinez.
“I really don’t,” he said. “Our rotation’s been fantastic from top to bottom, but he’s been such a big piece of that, really making everybody else feel comfortable around, and kind of setting that tone. Where if you don’t know what to do, you can look at him and see what he’s doing and get yourself back on track.”
Francona: “He’s one of the better ones in the game I’ve ever been around.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: All-Star that got away? Ex-Reds pitcher Nick Martinez earns big stage
Reporting by Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
