Francis Martes

Francis Euclides Martes Suazo

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 170 lb.

• Debut June 9, 2017
• Final Game October 1, 2017
• Born November 24, 1995 in Cotui, Sanchez Ramirez D.R.

BR page

Biographical Information

Pitcher Francis Martes was the youngest of three prospects acquired by the Houston Astros in a trading deadline deal with the Miami Marlins on July 31, 2014.

Martes was originally signed by the Marlins at the age of 17 in 2013 and played his first season in the Dominican Summer League with the DSL Marlins. He went 3-3, 3.04 in 12 games, including 6 starts. He was brought to the United States in 2014, but was not rushed, playing in the Gulf Coast League for the GCL Marlins. His record stood at 2-1, 4.97 after 7 games when he was included in the big trade. All of the other players involved were already in the majors or in AAA, so he stood out as a youngster who had not yet put up any flashy numbers in the lower reaches of the Marlins' system. Accompanying him to Houston were OF Jake Marisnick, who had big league experience, and 3B Colin Moran, a number 1 pick a year earlier, while the Marlins received two major leaguers, P Jarred Cosart and OF/IF Enrique Hernandez, and OF Austin Wates, who was hitting .300 in AAA. He pitched 4 times for the GCL Astros after the trade with a record of 1-1, 0.82.

In 2015, Martes began the year in Class A with the Quad Cities River Bandits and ended up in AA with the Corpus Christi Hooks, having also transited via the Lancaster JetHawks of the California League along the way. His combined line was 8-3, 2.04 in 19 games with 101 2/3 innings. As he had never pitched more than 50 innings in a season as a professional, the Astros did not want to give him too many starts, in spite of the fact he dominated opponents at both Class A spots and was holding his own in AA at age 19. He struck out 98 batters and walked 28 that season. In 2016, he spent the whole summer at Corpus Christi, making 22 starts in 25 appearances, and going 9-6, 3.30. He logged 125 1/3 innings, allowed just 104 hits, struck out 131 opponents but did give up 47 walks. He was named a Texas League All-Star.

By 2017, Martes had risen to be the #1 prospect in the Astros' organization, while the major league team had transformed itself from a laughingstock to arguably the strongest team in the majors. Still he had not pitched particularly well with the AAA Fresno Grizzlies, going 0-2, 5.29 in 8 starts, when Houston called him up to the Show on June 8th. In order to ease his transition to this level, the Astros were planning to use him initially as a long reliever. He made his debut the next day, giving up 4 runs in 3 2/3 innings of relief against the Los Angeles Angels. In all, he pitched 32 times for Houston, including 4 starts, logging 54 1/3 innings and putting up a record of 5-2, 5.80. He was not on the team's postseason roster as they won the first World Series title in franchise history, even though he had stayed on Houston's active roster without interruption since his call-up in early June. He then spent all of 2018 in the minors but only made 4 starts for Fresno, going 0-1, 6.75 before being put on the shelf with elbow issues on May 4th He made one rehabilitation appearance with the GCL Astros in August, pitching one inning, and then the Astros had him undergo Tommy John surgery. He was expected to miss most, if not all of 2019, and then hit another snag when in spring training he tested positive for a PED and was handed an 80-game suspension. He then returned to play briefly in the lower minors at the end of 2019, but tested positive again before spring training in 2020 and was suspended for the entire season as a result.

Notable Achievements

• Won one World Series with the Houston Astros in 2017 (he did not play in the World Series)

Further Reading

• Brian McTaggart: "Source: Astros promote top prospect Martes: Right-hander will likely be used in long-relief role", mlb.com June 8, 2017. [1]

Related Sites

• Francis Martes on mlb.com
• BR Minors page