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Is the Cardinals’ Carlos Martinez the next Pedro Martinez?

By Josh Criswell

Oct 15, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Carlos Martinez (44) pitches during the fifth inning in game four of the 2014 NLCS playoff baseball game at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 15, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Carlos Martinez (44) pitches during the fifth inning in game four of the 2014 NLCS playoff baseball game at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /
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Carlos Martinez is off to a hot start to the 2015 MLB season, and his first season as a full-time starting pitcher brings back memories of an all-time great; Pedro Martinez.

The move to make Carlos Martinez a starting pitcher has reaped tremendous benefits for the St. Louis Cardinals. In his first year removed from coming out of the bullpen, the 21-year old emerging star from the Dominican Republic is making a name for himself, posting an impressive 1.73 ERA, a perfect 3-0 record and averaging just under one strikeout per inning.

His impressive performance so early in his MLB career draws an eery resemblance to arguably the best player to ever come out of his home country of the Dominican Republic; Pedro Martinez.

I am not foolish enough to call him the next Pedro just 12 starts into his professional baseball career, but the similarities are absolutely there and impossible to ignore.

Tracing back to their roots, Carlos Martinez grew up in rural Puerto Plata, a mere two and a half hour drive from Manoguayabo, the suburb of Santo Domingo where Pedro grew up. While Pedro was just about to embark upon a legendary MLB career when Martinez was born in 1991, both players faced hardships early in life, as well as major success early in their professional baseball careers.

Moving on to their abilities on the baseball diamond, the young Martinez is a spinning image of Pedro; a pitcher that, despite having a less than imposing frame, has an uncanny ability to instill paralyzing fear in opposing batters. Martinez’s 0.92 strikeouts per innings pitched ratio is still slightly lower than the 0.98 that Pedro posted during his first season as a full-time starter, but both performances are beyond outstanding. Much like Pedro, Martinez broke into the big leagues as an extremely talented relief pitcher that simply could not be confined to the bullpen once the franchise realized where his true talents lay, as the ace of a contending team.

Is Martinez an ace yet? Not at all. He barely has a month of being a full-time starting pitcher under his belt, and has two of the best in the business in his pitching rotation in Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha.

That does not mean he cannot become one, however, and the question is more a matter when and not if it will happen.

Carlos Martinez appears to have a long and illustrious MLB career ahead of him, and while I find it hard to believe that he will pass up a 3-time Cy Young Award winner in Pedro as the greatest Dominican pitcher in history, I would also not be surprised if it is a serious argument about it 15 years down the road.

For the moment, we should just enjoy the greatness that his young career has provided. At just 21-years old, he is not even close to his prime, and I cannot wait to see this promising young player continue to grow.

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