Pedro Jaime Martínez (born October 25, 1971 in Manoguayabo, Dominican Republic) is a baseball pitcher who plays for the New York Mets. He has won three Cy Young Awards and has been considered one of the top pitchers in baseball in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Martínez's career started with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1992 as a relief pitcher. Before the 1994 season, he was traded to the Montreal Expos for Delino DeShields, and became one of the top starters in baseball. In 1997 he posted a 17-8 record for the Expos, and led the league in half a dozen pitching categories, including a 1.90 ERA, 305 strikeouts and 13 complete games pitched, and won the National League Cy Young Award. Pedro Martinez was also the first righthanded pitcher to reach 300 strikeouts with an ERA under 2.00 since Walter Johnson in 1912.

The 13 complete games were tied for the second-highest single-season total in all of baseball since Martinez's own career began (Curt Schilling had 15 in 1998; Chuck Finley and Jack mcDowell also reached 13 in a year). However, this 1997 total marks an anomaly in Martinez's career, as he has only compiled as many as 5 complete games in any other season on two other occasions. In recent years, Martinez has gotten a reputation as a starting pitcher who cannot finish what he begins. This reputation is not backed up by the statistics, but has gained currency through Martinez's comparatively frail and slight build, his emotional and sometimes prickly personality, and a series of high-profile no-decisions (mostly versus the New York Yankees).

Martínez was traded to the Boston Red Sox in November 1997 for Carl Pavano and Tony Armas, Jr., and was soon signed to a six-year, $75,000,000 contract by the Sox, at the time the largest ever awarded to a pitcher. In 1999 he enjoyed one of the greatest pitching seasons of all time, finishing 23-4 with a 2.07 ERA and 313 strikeouts, winning his second Cy Young Award (this time in the American League), and coming in second in the Most Valuable Player ballot. The MVP vote was controversial as Martínez received the most first-place votes, but was totally omitted from the ballot of two sportswriters who believed pitchers were not sufficiently all-around players to be considered. Martínez was named the AL Pitcher of the Month in April, May, June, and September of 1999, an unprecedented feat for a single season.

In the 1999 playoffs against the Cleveland Indians, though hampered by an injury, Martínez dominated the final game of the series. Entering the game in relief with an 8-8 score, Martínez pitched six no-hit innings for the win. In the American League Championship Series, he pitched seven shutout innings to beat the New York Yankees in Game 3, handing them their only loss of the postseason.

Martínez's strikeouts and win count were slightly down in 2000, but he posted an exceptional 1.74 ERA, the AL's lowest since 1978, winning his third Cy Young award. This is believed by some to be the greatest year ever by a pitcher, as his ERA was about a third of the park-adjusted league ERA (4.97). No other single season by a starting pitcher has had such a gigantic differential. Even more amazing about his 2000 season was his all-time record in one of the lesser known sabermetric statistics, Weighted Runs allowed per 9 innings pitched (Wtd. RA/9). It is considered by many to be the most accurate way to compare baseball players from different seasons and eras. To calculate the ratio, one takes the RA/9 by a player and multiplies this number by the ratio of the historical average for RA/9 divided by the league average RA/9 for that season. Martinez posted a remarkably low 1.55 Wtd. RA/9, a mind-boggling statistic.

In 1999 and 2000 Martinez allowed 288 hits, 597 strikeouts, 69 walks and a 1.90 ERA in 430 innings. Some statisticians believe that under the circumstances—with lefty-friendly Fenway Park as his home field, in a league with a DH, during the highest offensive period in baseball history—this performance represents the peak for any pitcher in baseball history.

Though he pitched brilliantly while healthy, carrying a sub-2.00 ERA to the midpoint of the season, Martínez was injured for much of 2001 with a rotator cuff injury as the Red Sox slumped to a poor finish. He rebounded in 2002 to lead the league with a 2.26 ERA and 237 strikeouts, going 20-4. However, that season's American League Cy Young award went to Barry Zito of the Oakland A's who had three more wins, despite a higher ERA, fewer strikeouts, and a lower winning percentage. Martínez became the first pitcher in history to lead his respective league in these categories and not win the Cy Young Award.

Martínez has come about as close to throwing a perfect game as possible without actually getting credit for it. On June 3, 1995, while pitching for Montreal, he retired the first 27 Padres hitters he faced to sail through nine innings of perfect pitching. However, the score was still tied 0-0 at that point and the game went into extra innings, and Martínez surrendered a double to the 28th batter. According to Major League Baseball rules, that meant that Martínez accomplished neither a perfect game nor a no-hitter. This was actually the second time this happened in Major League history, as Harvey Haddix did a similar feat in 1959.

Martinez may have been more overpowering on September 10, 1999, when he beat the New York Yankees 3-1. Martinez faced just 28 batters while striking out 17 and walking none; only a solo home run by Chili Davis separated Martinez from a no-hitter. (He'd also hit leadoff hitter Chuck Knoblauch with a pitch, but he was then erased on a double play.) Martinez had previously thrown a 1-hitter against the Reds in 1997.

Martínez is unusual for a power pitcher as he is 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) and 170 pounds (77 kg), small by modern-day standards. To date, only one Hall of Fame pitcher has been under 6 feet tall: 5'11" Whitey Ford. Martinez's pitches include a 95 mph (153 km/h) tailing fastball, an outstanding changeup that moves away from left handed hitters, and a hard curveball. His fastball and curveball are considered to be among the premier pitches of their type, and his changeup is believed to be among the very best of all-time. Martínez also throws from a low three-quarter position that hides the ball very well from batters, who have remarked on the difficulty of picking up Martínez's delivery. Throughout his career, his arm angle has dropped increasingly lower; he presently throws from the "low 3/4" slot.

Martínez is also a very controversial pitcher, both on and off the field. He refuses to yield the inside part of the plate, and has a high numbers of batters hit as a result. His career rate for hitting batters is historically high. Some people believe he is a headhunter, similar to Bob Gibson. On the Red Sox - Yankees rivalry, he was quoted as saying: "I'm starting to hate talking about the Yankees. The questions are so stupid. They're wasting my time. It's getting kind of old ... I don't believe in damn curses. Wake up the damn Bambino and have me face him. Maybe I'll drill him in the ass, pardon me the word." In Game 3 of the 2003 ALCS, Yankee bench coach Don Zimmer charged Martínez during a bench-clearing incident, and Martínez pushed him to the ground (however it appeared to others that Martinez simply sidestepped Zimmers charge causing Zimmer to trip and fall to the ground).

After a Red Sox loss to the Yankees late in the 2004 season, Martínez remarked in a press conference, "They beat me. They're that good right now. They're that hot. I just tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy". The New York media publicized the quote heavily, and whenever Martínez pitched at Yankee Stadium in the 2004 American League Championship Series, fans chanted "Who's Your Daddy?"

The 2004 season ended happily for Pedro Martinez and the Boston Red Sox, who won their first World Series title in 86 years. Martinez pitched Game 3 of the sweep, permitting the opposing Cardinals just 3 hits in 7 scoreless innings. After the 2004 season, Martínez became a free agent and signed a 4 year, $53 million contract with the New York Mets.

Fact

• Martínez's brother Ramón Martínez was also a Major League pitcher and the brothers have twice been teammates, with the Dodgers (1992-93) and Red Sox (1999-2000). Their younger brother, Jesus, also pitched in the Dodgers farm system for several years.
• Martínez's first cousin, Denny Bautista is a Major League pitcher for the Kansas City Royals.

See also

• Players from Dominican Republic in MLB

External links

• Template:Espn mlb
• Template:Baseball-referenceja:ペドロ・マルティネス