Seth Antonio Martinez (born August 29, 1994) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). From

Sierra Vista, Arizona Sierra Vista is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the population of the city is 45,308, and is the 27th most populous city in Arizona. The city is part of the Sierra Vista-Douglas Metropolitan Are ...

, Martinez attended

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

and played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the Sun Devils. The

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

selected Martinez in the 17th round of the

2016 MLB draft The 2016 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 9, 2016, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2015 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks will be d ...

. Martinez remained in the Oakland organization until the Astros selected him in the 2020 Rule 5 draft, and he made his MLB debut in 2021.

Amateur career

Martinez was born and grew up in

, and attended

Sunrise Mountain High School Sunrise Mountain High School is a public secondary school located in Peoria, Arizona, part of the Peoria Unified School District. The school opened its doors in August 1996. It is the district's second-smallest high school by enrollment, larger t ...

, where he played baseball and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

. Over four varsity seasons, he posted a record of 19-4 with a 2.86 ERA and 172 strikeouts over 144 innings. Martinez played college baseball for the

Arizona State Sun Devils The Arizona State Sun Devils are the athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member o ...

for three seasons. He pitched both as a starter and in relief as a freshman and began his sophomore season as Arizona State's mid-week starter before being made the team's number one starter after seven starts. As a junior, Martinez went 9-4 with a 2.75 ERA and 94 strikeouts over 111.1 innings pitched and was named first team All-

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

and a second team All-American by Louisville Slugger.

Professional career

Oakland Athletics

Martinez was selected in the 17th round of the 2016 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft by the

. After signing with the team, he was assigned to the

Arizona League Athletics The Arizona Complex League Athletics are a Minor League Baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, which plays as a Rookie-level team in the Arizona Complex League and has served as a farm team for the Oakland Athletics organization since 1988. Th ...

, where he pitched in three games. Martinez began the 2017 season with the Low–A

Vermont Lake Monsters The Vermont Lake Monsters are a collegiate summer baseball team located in Burlington, Vermont. From 1994 to 2020, they were members of Minor League Baseball's New York–Penn League (NYPL). They play their home games at Centennial Field, on ...

before he was promoted to the Single–A

Beloit Snappers The Beloit Sky Carp are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are located in Beloit, Wisconsin, and play their home games at ABC Supply Stadium. They previously played at Harry C ...

after one start. Martinez went 5-10 with a 3.49 ERA over 95.1 innings pitched with Beloit and returned to the team for the 2018 season. He began the 2019 season with the High–A

Stockton Ports The Stockton Ports are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. They are located in Stockton, California, and are named for the city's seaport. The team plays its home games at Ba ...

of the

California League The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leag ...

and was promoted to the Double-A

Midland RockHounds The Midland RockHounds are a Minor League Baseball team based in Midland, Texas. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics major league club. The RockHounds play in Momentum Bank Ballpark, whic ...

. Martinez did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Houston Astros

On December 10, 2020,

selected Martinez in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft and assigned him to the Triple–A

Sugar Land Skeeters The Sugar Land Space Cowboys are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros Major League Baseball club. They are located in Sugar Land, Texas, part of the Greater Houston metr ...

to start the 2021 season. He was called up for his MLB debut on September 20, 2021. Starting the

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

season by hurling 17 scoreless innings with the Astros, Martinez took on a role as a long reliever. He posted a 2.48 ERA over innings through August 13, 2022, prior to a demotion to the

Sugar Land Space Cowboys The Sugar Land Space Cowboys are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros Major League Baseball club. They are located in Sugar Land, Texas, part of the Greater Houston metr ...

, On August 25, the Astros recalled Martinez from Sugar Land. Martinez earned his first major league win on September 15, after tossing a scoreless inning versus the

. In 2022 with the Astros, he was 1–1 with a 2.09 ERA in 29 games covering innings.

References

External links