Edgar Martinez (minors01)

Edgar Ramon Martínez Delfino

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 255 lb.

• Born October 23, 1981 in Guigue Venezuela

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Edgar Martinez spent 10 years in the Boston Red Sox farm chain, the last two at AAA.

Martinez was signed by scout Levy Ochoa for the Red Sox in 1998. He hit .239/.301/.292 as a 17-year-old catcher for the 1999 GCL Red Sox. His 12 errors led Gulf Coast League backstops. In 2000, he batted only .168/.225/.269 for the GCL Red Sox and .100/.167/.180 in 16 games for the Augusta GreenJackets, not numbers one associates with the name Edgar Martinez. He did throw out 16 of 30 attempted base-stealers with the former club.

Edgar had his best offensive campaign with the 2001 Lowell Spinners, producing at a .320/.370/.463 rate. Had he qualified, he would have been 5th in the New York-Penn League in average. He led the league's catchers with nine errors. He lost All-Star honors at catcher to Mike Rabelo and Chris Shelton.

In 2002, the 20-year-old hit .249/.314/.328 for Augusta and threw out 43% of attempted base-stealers. The next year, he batted .201/.263/.231 for the Sarasota Red Sox and gunned down 46% of runners trying to steal. He began 2004 with the Portland Sea Dogs but continued to show little offense (.163/.207/.206 in 53 G). Given his strong arm behind the plate, the BoSox decided to move Martinez to the mound.

Sent back down to Augusta to finish 2004, Edgar gave up one run in ten innings to start his new career path. In 2005, he pitched very well with the Wilmington Blue Rocks (1-1, 7 Sv, 2.10, 46 K in 34 1/3 IP, .167 opponent average) and Portland (Sv, 1.50, .190 opponent average). He had a 1.89 ERA in 43 games for the year.

Martinez was with Portland for all of 2006, going 5-5 with 12 saves and a 2.61 ERA. Opponents hit just .205 against him and he helped the Sea Dogs win the Eastern League title. He pitched for the World team in the 2006 Futures Game, allowing one hit, one unearned run and one walk in the 5th inning of a 8-5 loss to the USA. Making it to AAA at age 25, he was 2-6 with a save and a 5.16 ERA in 42 outings for the Pawtucket Red Sox. In 2008, the right-hander did better with Pawtucket (8-3, 2 Sv, 3.89, .230 opponent average) but walked 58 in 113 1/3 innings. He was near the International League's top 10 in ERA.

Out of Organized Baseball in 2009, Martinez signed with the Newark Bears. He was just 1-3 with a 6.09 ERA and 30 walks in 54 2/3 innings while only striking out 20; he was 2 for 7 with a walk while batting for the first time in five years.

Martinez was with the Venezuelan national team for the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games (in which his 10th inning error lost a game to Puerto Rico) and the 2010 Pan American Games Qualification Tournament (losing a 12-inning game to Team USA on a Jordan Pacheco double).