Carlos Ernesto Martínez (born September 21, 1991), nicknamed "Tsunami", is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals. Originally signed by the Boston Red Sox as an international free agent in 2009, MLB voided his contract due to discrepancies over his name and date of birth after the revelation that he was also known as Carlos Matias. However, he was eventually cleared of wrongdoing, as it was found that the inconsistencies arose from poor record keeping.
The Cardinals signed Martínez in 2010, and he became a consensus top-100 prospect within Minor League Baseball and one of the Cardinals' highest-rated prospects. A starter in the minor leagues, he made his MLB debut in 2013 and performed mainly in relief roles in his first two seasons in the major leagues, then earned a spot in the Cardinal's rotation in 2015. During his first MLB season, fans gave him the nickname "Little Pedro," due to the similarities in physique and pitching mechanics to former Cy Young Award winner Pedro Martínez.
Martínez pitched with the Cardinals through 2021. MLB suspended him twice in 2022, first for violating the minor league's performance enhancing drug policy, then later for violating the domestic violence policy. After serving those suspensions, Martínez began pitching in the Mexican League.
Early life, name, and visa issues
Carlos Martínez was born in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, in a rural zone called Colinas del Sur, where official record-keeping is sometimes poor. Following the death of his mother when he was quite young, Martínez was adopted by an uncle with the last name Matias. The young Martínez originally had plans to become a priest but changed his mind soon after starting to catch the attention of major league scouts. Raised with his uncle's last name, some confusion eventually ensued when he attempted to secure a work visa to pitch in the United States.
When the Boston Red Sox first discovered Martínez, he was a 17-year-old who threw about 90 miles per hour (140 km/h), topping out at 92 miles per hour (148 km/h), with a loose delivery and athletic frame and also sported a quality breaking pitch and changeup. Projections were made that his body would fill out, and thus, increase the velocity and movement of his pitches, including a fastball up to 95 miles per hour (153 km/h). The team considered him comparable to first-round talent available in the Major League Baseball draft. Thus, the Red Sox moved to sign him while he was still relatively unknown, in part to get him for the lowest price possible. He signed for $140,000; however, a routine background check by Major League Baseball (MLB) officials raised several questions about the veracity of both his name and his date of birth. As a result, the Red Sox deal was voided, and, in March 2009, MLB suspended Martínez for one year.
Craig Shipley, the Red Sox executive in charge of international signing, remained adamant that the Red Sox no longer pursue Martínez. While the visa issues became more public, other teams scouted him and quietly lined up to bid for his services. Martínez started to live up to the Red Sox's projections, such as throwing a fastball about 95 mph as well as a power curveball. In time, Martínez's name and date of birth discrepancies were not considered to be significant issues.
Once the MLB suspension expired, Martínez signed with the St. Louis Cardinals as an international free agent in 2010 and received a reported $1.5 million signing bonus. While sorting out other visa issues, he pitched in the Dominican Summer League (DSL), where he started 12 games and completed 59 innings pitched (IP). He topped all Cardinals minor leaguers with a 0.76 earned run average (ERA), a .144 batting average against (BAA) and 0.71 walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) and ranked second with 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings pitched (K/9), third with a 5.57 strikeout-to-walk ratio (K/BB), and the fourth toughest to hit a home run against (0.228 HR/9). He led the league in ERA, BAA, K/9, and WHIP (tied for first).
After impressing Cardinal team officials at a minor league mini-camp in February, 2011, he bypassed some of the lower level assignments typical to rookies and was assigned to the Quad Cities River Bandits of the Single-A Midwest League in 2011. He split the season between Quad Cities and the Palm Beach Cardinals, posting a combined won–loss record (W–L) of 6–5 over 18 games and 84+2⁄3 IP. He also participated in the 2011 All-Star Futures Game.
Returning to Palm Beach to commence the 2012 season, shoulder tendonitis began to bother him after just seven starts and the Cardinals placed him on the disabled list (DL). Despite being on the DL he was advanced to Double-A in late May with the Springfield Cardinals of the Texas League. After returning from the shoulder problems, Martínez posted a 4–3 record over 71 innings. He had 58 strikeouts and ended the season with a 2.90 ERA.
Work visa issues again became a problem prior to 2013 spring training. Unable to secure the proper documents due to lingering confusion as a result of his name change when originally signing with the Cardinals, Martínez sat out nearly all of the 2013 Cardinals major league spring training.
Cleared in late March, Martínez reported to Cardinals minor league spring training more than six weeks behind schedule, in time only for the last few days of camp and requiring an extended spring in Jupiter, Florida. While awaiting the visa in the Dominican Republic, Martínez built up his readiness in a throwing program. After the extended spring, he was reassigned with the Springfield Cardinals. He made just three starts there before the Cardinals called him up. Martínez sported a 2.31 ERA in 11+2⁄3 innings with nine strikeouts.
The Cardinals called up Martínez to the Major League club, the number-three prospect in their organization, on May 3, 2013. He made his major league debut against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park that night. In one inning pitched, the seventh, he gave up a single, then induced a double play he started on a ground ball hit back to him, and then secured the third out with another ground ball. On May 27, the Cardinals sent Martínez down to Triple-A Memphis after seven appearances on the mound and eight innings in which he posted a 4.50 ERA with nine strikeouts. With the Redbirds in 2013, he made 13 starts. In 68 IP, he allowed a 2.51 ERA with 54 hits, three home runs (HR), 27 bases on balls (BB), while striking out 63.
The Cardinals recalled Martínez on August 8 after stretching out his innings workload with Memphis to bring his endurance back to being sufficient to handle the rigors of starting pitching. The next night, Martínez made his first major league start against the Los Angeles Dodgers, pitching five innings and giving up four earned runs. He earned the distinction of being the first Cardinals starter in recent memory to throw over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) and regularly threw 96–98 miles per hour (154–158 km/h). On September 20, 2013, Martínez entered a game in the tenth against the Brewers in which the Cardinals led 7–6 and closed the game in a 1–2–3 inning. His inning helped make the Cardinals victorious and gave him his first major league save. In the 2013 regular season with the Cardinals, Martínez posted a 5.08 ERA in 28+1⁄3 innings, striking out 24. He made one start, earned one save, winning two games while losing one.
The Cardinals played him in the 2013 National League Division Series (NLDS) against the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he made three total appearances, giving up two runs in two IP. Against the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series (NLCS), he appeared in four games, giving up no runs while allowing just one hit, one walk, and striking out four in 4+2⁄3 IP. In the World Series against the Red Sox, he appeared in five games, pitched six innings, giving up five hits, three runs and one walk while striking out five. The Red Sox defeated the Cardinals 4–2 in that World Series. Between the three series, he appeared in 12 games, posted a 3.55 ERA, held opponents to a .167 BAA, and allowed three walks with 11 strikeouts in 12+2⁄3 IP.