IV · THE GAME · MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
Pedro Martinez
A pitcher's career is a long negotiation between power and control. Martínez struck out eight in his first start and walked one. The ratio improved from there.
At a glance
- Career
- 476 games · 219 wins · 100 losses · 2,827.1 innings · 3,154 strikeouts · 2.93 ERA
- Debut
- 24 September 1992, aged 20, at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
- Last game
- 30 September 2009, for the Philadelphia Phillies
- Height and weight
- 5' 11", 195 lb, threw right, batted right
Look closer
The debut was a loss, but the line was clean
On 24 September 1992 the Cincinnati Reds made fifteen hits and eight runs at Dodger Stadium in front of 18,707 people. The Dodgers made nine hits and four runs, three of them in the fourth inning. Martínez pitched eight innings, gave up six hits and two earned runs, struck out eight and walked one. The loss went to him because the Dodgers never pulled level. Cincinnati scored six runs in the seventh, all of them after Martínez had left the game, which is why the earned-run figure is two rather than eight.
The walk rate fell as the strikeout rate rose
In 1992 Martínez walked one batter in eight innings. In 1993 he walked fifty-seven in a hundred and seven innings — more than one every two innings. By 1997 the rate had dropped to sixty-seven walks in 241.1 innings, and by 2000 it was thirty-two in two hundred and seventeen innings, or one every seven innings. The strikeout rate moved the other way: a hundred and nineteen in a hundred and seven innings in 1993, three hundred and five in 241.1 innings in 1997, two hundred and eighty-four in two hundred and seventeen innings in 2000. Fewer walks and more strikeouts is the shape control takes when a pitcher keeps his power.
The ERA rose sharply in the final three seasons
From 1997 through 2005 the ERA sat below 3.00 in eight of nine seasons, the exception being 2004 when it was 3.90. In 2006 it was 4.48, in 2007 it was 2.57 across five starts, in 2008 it was 5.61, and in 2009 it was 3.63 across nine starts. The innings pitched also fell: 132.2 in 2006, twenty-eight in 2007, a hundred and nine in 2008, 44.2 in 2009. The final four seasons together add up to 314.1 innings, which is less than Martínez pitched in 1997 alone.
The story
On 24 September 1992 the Cincinnati Reds and the Los Angeles Dodgers played at Dodger Stadium in front of 18,707 people. The Dodgers led 3–0 after four innings, Cincinnati scored two in the fifth to make it 3–2, and then six more in the seventh to win 8–4. Martínez pitched the first eight innings for Los Angeles. He gave up six hits, two earned runs, struck out eight and walked one. The loss went to him because the Dodgers never pulled level, but the line itself — two earned runs in eight innings, eight strikeouts, one walk — was the sort a pitcher can build a career on if he can repeat it.
The 1993 season was different. Martínez appeared in sixty-five games, started two of them, and pitched 107 innings. He struck out a hundred and nineteen batters and walked fifty-seven, which is more than one walk every two innings. The ERA was 2.61, the wins were ten, the losses five, and the saves two. In 1994 he moved to the Montreal Expos and started twenty-three games. The walks dropped to forty-five in 144.2 innings, the strikeouts were a hundred and forty-two, and the ERA rose to 3.42. The pattern from there is a gradual tightening of control and a steady rise in strikeouts. By 1997 the walks were sixty-seven in 241.1 innings and the strikeouts were three hundred and five. The ERA that year was 1.90, the wins were seventeen, the losses eight, and the complete games were thirteen.
In 1998 Martínez joined the Boston Red Sox. He pitched 233.2 innings, struck out 251, walked sixty-seven, and posted an ERA of 2.89. In 1999 the strikeouts rose to 313 in 213.1 innings, the walks fell to thirty-seven, and the ERA was 2.07. In 2000 the strikeouts were 284 in two hundred and seventeen innings, the walks were thirty-two, and the ERA was 1.74. That is one walk roughly every seven innings, and it is the lowest ERA in any season where Martínez pitched more than a hundred innings. The 2001 season was shorter — eighteen starts, 116.2 innings — and the 2002 season was twenty wins, four losses, 239 strikeouts in 199.1 innings, and an ERA of 2.26.
From 2003 the innings began to vary more. In 2003 Martínez pitched 186.2 innings with an ERA of 2.22. In 2004 he pitched two hundred and seventeen innings and the ERA rose to 3.90, the highest it had been since 1996. In 2005 he moved to the New York Mets and pitched two hundred and seventeen innings with an ERA of 2.82. In 2006 the innings fell to 132.2 and the ERA rose to 4.48. In 2007 he made five starts, pitched twenty-eight innings, and the ERA was 2.57. In 2008 he made twenty starts, pitched a hundred and nine innings, and the ERA was 5.61. In 2009 he joined the Philadelphia Phillies, made nine starts, pitched 44.2 innings, and the ERA was 3.63. That was the last season. The career totals are 476 games, 409 starts, 219 wins, 100 losses, 2,827.1 innings, 3,154 strikeouts, 760 walks, and an ERA of 2.93.
Why it mattered then
A pitcher who can strike out more than a batter an inning while walking fewer than one every three innings is doing something most pitchers cannot do, which is why the wins and the ERA both reflect it. The 1997 season — 305 strikeouts, sixty-seven walks, 1.90 ERA, thirteen complete games — is the sort of line that defines a rotation, and the 1999 and 2000 seasons are similar. The move from Los Angeles to Montreal in 1994 and from Montreal to Boston in 1998 both came after seasons in which the numbers had improved, which suggests the clubs acquiring him saw the trajectory and acted on it. The 2005 move to New York came after a season in which the ERA had risen to 3.90, but the 2005 season itself — 208 strikeouts, forty-seven walks, 2.82 ERA — showed the control had returned. The final three seasons, by contrast, show a pitcher whose innings are falling and whose ERA is rising, which is the usual shape of the end of a career.
Why it matters now
The career ERA of 2.93 and the strikeout total of 3,154 are both the products of length as much as they are of any single season. The lowest ERA in a full season was 1.74 in 2000, and the highest strikeout total was 313 in 1999, but neither of those seasons alone explains the career totals. What explains them is the number of seasons in which the ERA stayed below 3.00 — eight out of nine from 1997 through 2005 — and the number of seasons in which the strikeout rate stayed above one per inning. The walk rate also matters: thirty-two walks in two hundred and seventeen innings in 2000 is roughly one every seven innings, and that level of control is what allows a pitcher to challenge hitters without giving them free bases. The career is a demonstration that power and control are not opposed qualities but complementary ones, and that a pitcher who can develop both will accumulate totals that reflect the combination rather than either skill alone.
The surprising detail
The 1993 season is the outlier in the career table. Martínez appeared in sixty-five games, started only two of them, and pitched 107 innings. The strikeouts were a hundred and nineteen, which is more than one per inning, but the walks were fifty-seven, which is more than one every two innings. The ERA was 2.61 despite the walk rate, which suggests the hits allowed — seventy-six in 107 innings — were not clustered in ways that let runs score. The following season he moved to Montreal, started twenty-three games, and the walk rate began to fall. The 1993 season is the only one in which Martínez pitched more than a hundred innings without starting at least eighteen games, and it is the only one in which the walk rate was that high. It sits between the debut and the long run of starting seasons like a hinge, and the career totals would look very different if the walk rate had stayed where it was in 1993.
What is disputed
Every figure here comes from the MLB Stats API. Statistical categories were not all recorded consistently across the eighteen seasons covered, and the distinction between earned and unearned runs depends on scorer judgements about errors that can vary between scorers and between eras. The totals are the ones the league publishes today rather than anything independently recomputed here.
Remember this
3,154 strikeouts, 760 walks, and an ERA of 2.93 across eighteen seasons: control and power together, sustained.
Test yourself
The debut game linescore shows Cincinnati scored six runs in the seventh inning, but Martínez's earned-run total for the game is two, not eight. Using only the information given, what explains the difference?
Martínez pitched eight innings, which means he left the game before the ninth and therefore before or during the seventh inning in which Cincinnati scored six runs. Earned runs are charged only to the pitcher who allowed the batters to reach base, so if Martínez left after giving up two earned runs and the relief pitcher or pitchers who followed him allowed six more, those six are not charged to Martínez. The loss goes to him because the Dodgers were behind when he left and never pulled level, but the earned runs scored after he left do not appear in his line. This is why a pitcher's ERA can be much lower than the final score suggests: he is responsible only for the runs that scored as a result of batters he put on base.