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Originally published Oct. 19, 2015.  Martin pitched as advertised on June 2, 2016 - Nintendo change curve and a knack for fooling hitters.  It's not clear what a #5 starter is doing in this particular bullpen, but DiPoto has had good results with sabermetric orientation at times in the past.

Comments on Cody Martin, Edwin Diaz or sundry are welcome below.  - Dr D

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It's easy to gauge Dr. D's level of interest in a new Mariners pitcher.  If the guy's a meatball, well ... if you can't say anything nice about a person, don't say anything at all.  That, or link up NinersNation on him.  If the pitcher makes you happy, even for a day or a week, then write about him.  Baseball's for fun.  The yellow sticky note titled "Subjects to Shtick About" is optimistic by natural selection.  

So, it's no problem to infer Dr. D's attitude about Logan Kensing, or Joe Beimel, or Rob Rasmussen, or Edgar Olmos, or Jose Ramirez.  Where might Cody Martin appear in this constellation of hot properties?

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Martin is a three-pitch swing man with vanilla stuff and plus command.  But, he does have a very clear 3 pitches with "impact" velocity separation, as our fearless JeDi leader might put that.

• Fastball = 88-92
• Slider = 82 
• Change curve = 73 (and he will throw it a good 2-3 times per inning)

A stats analysis would kind of miss the point here.  But if you insist, his thirty ML innings show a weirdly high amount of K's and a TON of mistakes (home runs) for a pitcher of his type.  Those stats doesn't tell you much beyond "novelty factor" and "need to get your sea legs under you."  But a look at Cody's approach tells you that he likes to use his 91 fastball at the letters, exactly like Hisashi Iwakuma does.  So there you go.

Cody Martin is a Billy Beane-type pitcher:  long on results, short on "wow" factor from the scouts' box.  Waitasecond:  Martin actually does come from the A's.  Ah.  This bit of whimsy, 'guessing' so well against his own memory, gives Dr. D a bit of self-confidence.  As you know, he sorely needs as much more of this as he can get.  But we know what you're thinking:  why would Atlanta and the A's shed Martin so blithely, then?  

Naaaaah, don' sweat it; this is just the kind of guy who can become a 40-man roster casualty.  Think Erasmo Ramirez.  A club might be well aware of a young pitcher's dynamism but might be well unaware of any solution to their roster crunch.

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ALLITERATION RULZ, Dept.

Carson Castulli is a really cool guy, probably my second-fave baseball writer if you exclude the top twenty posters at SSI.  And at this site we don't do "linkage" - we do "readage."  The fact is that Carson's writeup of Cody Martin is a better read than this one here.  You won't wanna miss it.  Moshing off Carson a bit:

1  Boy do I wish I could have worked for Dave Cameron.  But into every life a little rain must fall.  That which doesn't kill us makes us philosophical.

2  It's a little odd to me that anybody (we're not talking 'bout Carson) would react to this type of pitcher having a "hot start" of five innings.

3  Don't miss the little table of 90 MPH pitchers who miss bats with fastballs.  Several Japanese pitchers, Bedard :- ) and Cody Martin.

4  I think the real reason these pitchers can do this, is that they have the "stoneballs" of a burglar, going up in the zone like Chris Young does.  And they have pitchability to go with their command.

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DR'S PROGNOSIS

BaseballHQ said, last spring, that his fastball has "life" and that his slider is "swing and miss."

 Dig the "life" on this jam pitch and don't forget to check the catcher's glove.  Or, here is another 91 fastball that looks like 94.  The kid has an interesting, David Cone-like shoulder tuck and jaunty arm slot.

The 0:30 mark on this video was the only look I could find on his slider.  The pitch right after is the change curve.  Not sure why his arm slot was higher back then.

Considering his ability to serve as #6-7 starter into the bargain, SSI is mildly bullish on Cody Martin.  He's probably no more than Ryan Franklin or Erasmo Ramirez or something, but I like what it says about DiPoto's orientation towards a Beane-type pitcher.  Dr. D has had his fill of Zduriencik's scrounging for Jose Ramirez types with ephemereal upside but dubious pitchability.  When DiPoto complained about the Mariners' depth, this was just the kind of thing he was talking about.

Tight little upgrade on Logan Kensing.

Or not,

jemanji