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

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

in the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League East, East Division. The ...

organization. He has previously played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

. From

Sierra Vista, Arizona Sierra Vista (; ) is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 United States census, 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 ...

, Martinez attended

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

and played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the Sun Devils. The

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

selected Martinez in the 17th round of the

2016 MLB draft The 2016 Major League Baseball 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 were distributed for players who ...

. Martinez remained in the Oakland organization until the

selected him in the 2020

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

, and he made his MLB debut in 2021.

Amateur career

Martinez grew up in

Peoria, Arizona Peoria ( ) is a city in Maricopa and Yavapai counties in the U.S. state of Arizona. Most of the city is located in Maricopa County, while a portion of it in the north is in Yavapai County. It is a major suburb of Phoenix. As of the 2020 cens ...

and attended Sunrise Mountain High School, where he played baseball and

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

. Over three seasons, he posted a record of 19-4 with a 2.86 ERA and 172 strikeouts over 144 innings. In his junior year, he threw a no-hitter in his junior season and was named to the second-team All State team. Martinez played

for the

Arizona State Sun Devils The Arizona State Sun Devils are the sport, athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's Varsity team, varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Divisi ...

for three seasons. As a freshman, he pitched both as a starter and in relief, with a 5–0 record and 4.32 ERA. He played summer baseball for the

Bellingham Bells The Bellingham Bells are a collegiate summer baseball team in the West Coast League. The team is composed of college baseball players from teams around the U.S. Originally founded as an expansion team in the Pacific International League, the Be ...

. He 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 in 2016, Martinez went 9-4 with a 2.75 ERA and 94 strikeouts over innings pitched and was named to the first team All-

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

and a second team All-American by Louisville Slugger. His primary catcher in college was fellow future major leaguer

Brian Serven Brian Nicholas Serven (born May 5, 1995) is an American professional baseball catcher in the Detroit Tigers organization. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Colorado Rockies and Toronto Blue Jays. Serven was drafted ...

Professional career

Oakland Athletics

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

. After signing, he was assigned to the

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

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

Low-A Single-A, formerly known as Class A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A, Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams classified at the Single-A level, one for ...

Vermont Lake Monsters The Vermont Lake Monsters are a collegiate summer baseball team located in Burlington, Vermont, United States, who were founded in 1994 as the Vermont Expos. They were members of Minor League Baseball, in the New York–Penn League (NYPL), ...

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 innings pitched with Beloit and returned to the team for the 2018 season. He converted to a full-time reliever in 2018, leading the Snappers with 15 saves. 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 Athletics. They are located in Stockton, California, and are named for the city's seaport. The team plays its home games at Banner I ...

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 Leagu ...

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 Athletics major league club. The RockHounds play in Momentum Bank Ballpark, which ope ...

. He had a solid 2019 season, increasing his strikeouts and reducing his ERA against higher competition with a similar workload to 2018. 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Houston Astros

On December 10, 2020, the

selected Martinez in the minor league phase of the

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 (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros Major League Baseball club. They are located in Sugar Land, Texas, part of the G ...

to start the 2021 season. He was called up for his MLB debut on September 20, 2021, when he pitched a scoreless ninth inning. After another scoreless outing, his season ended poorly, allowing 5 runs the last inning of a blowout loss to Oakland. In the 2022 season, Martinez joined the Astros near the end of April and worked as a long reliever. He threw scoreless innings to start his season before allowing a game-winning 10th inning home run to

Aaron Judge Aaron James Judge (born April 26, 1992) is an American professional baseball right fielder for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He is a six-time MLB All-Star and two-time American League (AL) Most Valuable Player Award (MVP ...

. Martinez posted a 2.48 ERA over innings through August 13, when he was demoted back to Triple-A. On August 25, the Astros recalled Martinez from Sugar Land. He earned his first major league win on September 15, after tossing a scoreless inning against the

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

. In his rookie season, he was 1–1 with a 2.09 ERA in 29 games, pitching innings. He did not pitch in the postseason but was part of the Astros' World Series ring ceremony the following year. Martinez again split time between the majors and Triple-A in 2023. He earned his first major league save on June 25, pitching in the 11th inning of a win over the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

. He had a 2–3 record and 5.23 ERA in 43 innings for the Astros, pitching more than 1 inning in 11 of his 35 MLB games. He had better results for the Skeeters, with a 2.25 ERA in 19 games. In

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, Martinez pitched in a career-high 44 games with the Astros, going 3–2 with 1 save and a 3.59 ERA in innings, also a career high. He finished 14 games and had 36 strikeouts and a 1.272

walks plus hits per inning pitched In baseball statistics, walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) is a Sabermetrics, sabermetric measurement of the number of Baserunning#Becoming a runner, baserunners a pitcher has allowed per Innings pitched, inning pitched. WHIP is calculate ...

(WHIP). He also made 13 appearances at Sugar Land in 2024, with no decisions and a 1.46 ERA.

Miami Marlins

On November 4, 2024, Martinez was claimed off waivers by the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

. Martinez was

designated for assignment Designated for assignment (DFA) is a contractual term used in Major League Baseball (MLB). A player who is designated for assignment is immediately removed from the team's 40-man roster, after which the team must, within seven days, return the pla ...

by the Diamondbacks on February 17, 2025. On February 20, Martinez was claimed off waivers by the

. On February 27, Miami designated him for assignment after they acquired

Brett de Geus Brett de Geus ( ; born November 4, 1997) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Texas Rangers, Arizona Diamondbacks, Seattle Mariners, an ...

. On March 2, Martinez was claimed off waivers by the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

. However, he was claimed back off waivers by Miami on March 15. Martinez was designated for assignment following the acquisition of Tyler Phillips on March 26. He cleared waivers and was sent outright to the Triple-A

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are located in Jacksonville, Florida, and are named for shrimp caught in th ...

Personal life

Martinez's parents are Bobby and Kelly Martinez. He has one sister, Taylor. His father was a high school baseball coach.

References

External links

Arizona State Sun Devils bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Seth 1994 births Living people People from Sierra Vista, Arizona Sportspeople from Cochise County, Arizona Baseball players from Arizona Major League Baseball pitchers Houston Astros players Arizona State Sun Devils baseball players Arizona League Athletics players Vermont Lake Monsters players Beloit Snappers players Stockton Ports players Midland RockHounds players Sugar Land Skeeters players Sugar Land Space Cowboys players Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp players