Nick Martinez: Streaming Option for April 21
By Bill Pivetz
Apr 14, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Nick Martinez (22) throws to the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning of a baseball game at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports
The loss of Yu Darvish has hurt the Texas Rangers rotation so far this season. Three of the team’s pitchers have ERAs over 3.40 and a 3-4 record. There is one pitcher who is holding down the fort as the offense finds its groove. Nick Martinez has been lights out in his two starts and should be a top streaming option for Tuesday.
Martinez is doing his best to make fantasy owners forget about his 2014 season. In case you missed it, he finished with a 5-12 record, 4.55 ERA, 1.461 WHIP, 4.9 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9. The lack of strikeouts and high walk rate hindered Martinez’s value in most leagues.
He is off to a good start in the short season. Martinez is 2-0, hasn’t allowed an earned run and has a 1.00 WHIP. However, just like last season, Martinez cannot strike anyone out. He owns a 3.9 K/9 rate, six strikeouts in 14.0 innings.
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The Rangers are providing Martinez with plenty of run support, 18 runs scored in his two starts. Martinez has also had great command of his pitches. Manager Jeff Banister said, “[Martinez] has bought into being able to pitch inside for strikes and pitch inside for effect, to open up the outside part of the plate.” While this isn’t equating to strikeouts, opposing batters have a .191 average against him.
Martinez’s will face the Arizona Diamondbacks in his third start of the season. This could prove to be a tough matchup as the Diamondbacks have a .253/.318/.380/.698 line, eighth, 10th, 15th and 13th among all teams, respectively.
Martinez hasn’t pitched well on the road. He went 4-5 with a 4.09 ERA over 83 2/3 innings of work away Arlington last season. However, he looks to have made enough changes to warrant a pickup for this matchup.
He is widely available, owned in just 21.2 percent of ESPN.com leagues. It has gone up by nearly 20 percent in the last week. He’s been a “start once and drop him” kind of pitcher, but a good start could put him up over the 50 percent ownership.
I’ve made back-to-back good calls with my last two streaming picks. Martinez could either make it three in a row or completely blow up in my face. But that’s the point of streaming, right?