Washington Nationals 2015 Player Review: Rafael Martin

One of the weak points for the Washington Nationals this season was their bullpen. Due to some injuries, the Nats had to use some younger players to fill some key roles in the ‘pen at times. One name I want to focus on today is Rafael Martin (2-0, 5.11 ERA). While Martin only appeared in 13 games, he had one of the great games by a reliever this season back in April.

In his Major League debut on April 15 against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, Martin gave up one hit over two innings and struck out five straight batters as the Nats avoided the sweep against Boston. However, he allowed five runs in his final three appearances in April before going back down to triple-A Syracuse.

With the Chiefs this season, the 25-year-old right-hander was 5-5 with a 3.21 ERA in 46 games and he had 12 saves in 15 chances as the team’s closer. Martin had a 9.28 ERA in nine May appearances at triple-A, but he did end his season with the Chiefs on a dominant note.

Over his final 19 appearances of the International League season, Martin had a 0.46 ERA, was 9-for-9 in saves, and showed pinpoint control (24 strikeouts and only one walk). His 68 strikeouts were the fifth most on the Chiefs’ team, but it was the most of any reliever on the roster.

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Martin was re-called to the Nationals when the rosters expanded on September 2. In the final nine games of the season, Martin had scoreless outings in eight out of those nine games. The only runs he gave up in the second half of the season was a two-run home run by Cody Asche when the Nats played the Philadelphia Phillies on September 25 (8-2 loss).

While it’s a small sample size on the Major League level, Martin relied on mainly two pitches. According to Fangraphs, he used his fastball (average velocity of 89 miles per hour) 70 percent of the time and his slider close to 25 percent of the time.

There is a lot of optimism around Martin going forward because of his ability to dominate with the slider and he has experience pitching in the later innings, albeit at the triple-A level. He won’t be the closer or setup man for the Nationals next season, but he is a candidate to make the Opening Day roster. He will be an interesting player to watch when Spring Training begins this February in Viera.