(Photo: Austin Hurst/WCSN)
PHOENIX — Jack Martinez entered the 2025 campaign with lofty expectations placed on him before he even threw a single pitch at the Power Four level. An incoming transfer after spending a season at Louisiana Lafayette, the senior right-hander impressed during the offseason and earned a spot as Arizona State’s Saturday starter.
The only concern? Across three seasons of college baseball — two at Trinity University and another with the Ragin’ Cajuns — Martinez had 13 starts under his belt, and only four at Louisiana. He did, however, show an ability to pitch deep into outings, going 5-plus innings six times in his career.
In any event, he’d made enough noise for head coach Willie Bloomquist to give him a chance in the Sun Devils’ weekend rotation, a decision that has looked better with each passing week.
Martinez had already looked promising in his first two starts of the season, but on Saturday, he found another gear. Despite ASU’s (7-4) 6-4 loss to Minnesota (4-4) that saw it blow a 4-1 lead late, Martinez shined, posting 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball and hurling a career-high 11 strikeouts.
“He was outstanding,” Bloomquist said. “11 punch outs in 5.2 (innings). The only negative (is) that his pitch count got high pretty quick, so he threw the heck out of the ball. Very pleased with how he threw.”
On Saturday, Martinez had all of his pitches — a fastball, slider and changeup — working from the get-go. However, he had some trouble hitting all of his spots in his first inning of work, and it showed. After getting a five-pitch strikeout to start the game, the Texas native walked junior second baseman Easton Richter, allowed a single to junior outfielder Drew Berkland and watched both advance 90 feet on a double steal.
Facing his first jam of the game about as early as possible, Martinez didn’t flinch. He proceeded to fan junior catcher Weber Neels and induced a lineout to senior shortstop Matt King, stranding both runners on the diamond. From that point on, Martinez settled in, seldom running into any trouble the rest of the way.
“I think just getting ahead,” Martinez said of the adjustments he made after the first. “Hitting is super hard, and we give hitters a lot of credit — sometimes too much credit — and so getting in the zone early and getting two strikes fast, pitchers win almost all the time. That’s kind of the mentality I had. As you get more comfortable, you can kind of start going out of the zone. Once people understand that, you can go in it.”
While his heater was seemingly touching the mid-to-high 90s for his entire start, he leaned on his off-speed pitches to earn strikeouts and keep hitters off-balance. Namely, he used a heavy dose of his changeup to generate whiffs. He did a great job getting ahead of hitters, throwing 11 first-pitch strikes, and in total, 59 of his 98 pitches landed inside the zone.
It may not have been the most efficient outing with his pitch count climbing early, but Martinez began cruising as his evening continued, facing the minimum three times. The only other occasion where he encountered some turbulence was in the fourth, when he again followed up a strikeout to start the inning by letting consecutive Golden Gophers on base — both via singles this time.
Once again, he immediately settled in and doused the fire. Martinez got ahead of outfielder Josh Fitzgerald and put him away in five pitches, but quickly fell behind junior first baseman Jake Elbeery by throwing three consecutive pitches outside of the zone. However, he battled back and ultimately coaxed Elbeery into a swinging strikeout.
Martinez’s only blemish on the night was a towering solo shot conceded to Berkland with one out in the sixth. And just as he did in the previous five innings, he came back with a vengeance, picking up one final strikeout before Bloomquist pulled him in favor of sophomore lefty Cole Carlon.
“All my stuff was working,” Martinez said. “I was able to get ahead a lot of the time. And my out pitches, I had more than one today. My changeup was working late, slider was working late, then mix it up and kind of go fastball-heavy at certain times, just to keep them from getting a consistent approach. I felt fairly confident with a lot of my stuff today.”
A key source of Martinez’s confidence on Saturday and his previous two starts was his comfort on the bump. When he transferred to Tempe, he realized that the easiest way to play at your best is to be loose and collected. ASU will need him to maintain that composure throughout the season, as he, along with junior southpaw Ben Jacobs and sophomore righty Jaden Alba, is a part of a Sun Devils’ weekend rotation that has shown great promise early in the spring.
Martinez’s most challenging days of playing collegiate baseball are likely behind him. He moved up the ranks, from Division III to mid-major to power four, and has gotten better at each level. Now, as a focal point of ASU’s staff, he’ll look to use that experience to keep him grounded and continue producing for the Sun Devils.
“I’m a senior now, fourth year,” Martinez said. “I’ve played a lot of baseball, and I think the biggest click I had this year was understanding how much fun this should be, and there’s a lot of pressure. But, again, it’s fun. People are most comfortable when you’re playing backyard baseball. You’ve been doing it, we’ve played baseball for tons of time, and we’re at our best when we’re confident, comfortable, not thinking very much, at least for most.
“I think I’ve succeeded at getting back to that.”
