Martes Hits First Bump In Quick Rise

HOUSTON—Righthander Francis Martes shot through the system in 2015, beginning at low Class A Quad Cities and ending with three starts at Double-A Corpus Christi.

But the beginning of this season has offered a reminder Martes is still just 20 years old. He won’t turn 21 until November and has much to refine before he ascends to Houston.

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Martes, the system’s top pitching prospect, has struggled with command in several of his early-season starts in the Texas League. After opening April with six innings of one-hit ball against Tulsa, the young power pitcher saw his ERA rise to 7.56 over his next four starts.

“It’s been up and down,” Corpus Christi manager Rodney Linares said of Martes’ season through six appearances. “His stuff is as good as it comes.

“Here’s a kid who didn’t have any bumps in the road last year and climbed up through three levels and got here. But once you get here, it’s all about making adjustments, and he’s had a little bit of a rough time making adjustments.”

Martes, whom the Astros acquired from the Marlins in the July 2014 Jarred Cosart trade that also brought outfielder Jake Marisnick to the organization, accompanies a fastball in the mid- to upper 90s with a curveball, a changeup and a slider. He’s working to refine all his pitches and also slowing the game down when he gets into a jam.

Martes’ track record shows that he doesn’t usually walk as many batters as he has this year, in this case 6.6 per nine innings.

The native of the Dominican Republic—he signed in 2012, issued just 28 walks over 102 innings last year, his first full season with the organization.

But in a span of four starts this April, he had two four-walk outings.

“He’s facing a little bit of adversity right now,” Linares said a day after the second such outing, “but I don’t see it being anything that’s not going to turn around and get better once he keeps pitching up in this level.”

SPACE SHOTS

• Corpus Christi shortstop Alex Bregman, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 draft, returned to the lineup on May 5 after a hamstring injury sidelined him for 11 games. He earned Texas League player-of-the-week accolades after his first week in Double-A.

• Triple-A Fresno righthander Brady Rodgers needed just 86 pitches—70 strikes—to record a complete-game, four-hit shutout on May 4 against Reno. The 25-year-old Rodgers, a third-round pick in 2012, struck out nine and did not issue a walk.