Osvaldo Martínez (minors01)

Osvaldo F. Martínez

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 214 lb.

• Born May 9, 1975 in Villa Gonzalez D.R.

BR Register page

Biographical information

Osvaldo Martínez pitched several years in the minors but was far more notable for his work in Taiwan. He is a cousin of Ramon Morel.

Martínez was 4-7 with a 3.51 ERA for the 1993 DSL Tigers/Cardinals. In '94, he went 2-4 with a save and a 3.67 ERA with the Bristol Tigers, allowing 36 hits in 49 innings. He split 1995 between the Jamestown Jammers (4-4, 3.77) and Fayetteville Generals (4.15). He allowed 10 home runs that year for Jamestown, most in the New York-Penn League.

Osvaldo moved to Taiwan's Sinon Bulls in 1997 and went 14-7 with a 3.39 ERA his first year. He was second in the Chinese Professional Baseball League in victories and just missed the top 10 in ERA. In '98, the Dominican right-hander improved to 13-10, 3.17. He led the CPBL with 143 strikeouts and was 8th in ERA, between Mark Kiefer and Don Lemon.

Martínez faded to 8-15, 3.83 in 1999. He led the loop in hits allowed (181), homers surrendered (15) and losses (five more than anyone else). In 2000, he was 14-8 with eight saves and a 2.71 ERA. He was 8th in ERA that campaign. The next season, Osvaldo was 11-10 with four saves and a 2.84 ERA, finishing 7th in the CPBl in ERA. He pitched 209 1/3 innings, second to Tetsu Yofu. He allowed 14 homers, the most, and his 139 strikeouts were third behind Yofu and John Burgos.

The veteran hurler was 12-12 with four saves for the 2002 Bulls, but with a 2.86 ERA that was 4th in the league behind Chao-Chi Sung, Jonathan Hurst and Hiroaki Nakayama. He fanned 155, second to only Sung. At age 27/28, Osvaldo turned in a 12-11, 3.12 campaign in 2003 with three saves. He whiffed 182 in 170 1/3 innings, leading the league for the second time, 20 ahead of Hisanori Yokota. He was 10th in ERA. On August 15, he had a no-hitter after five innings against the First Financial Holdings Agan but rain cut his bid short.

Martínez went 12-5 with 12 saves and a 3.40 ERA for Sinon in 2004, striking out 162 in 156 1/3 innings. On March 4, he became the first CPBL player to reach 1,000 strikeouts. He finished third that year in strikeouts behind Ying-Chieh Lin and Chien-Fu Yang.

Osvaldo ended his Taiwanese career in 2005, going 12-7 with 7 saves and a 3.72 ERA. He reached 100 career wins, the second CPBL player to that level, following Chang-Heng Hsieh. When he won his 101st, he became the league's all-time win leader. He also became the first pitcher to reach double digits in wins six straight seasons, though Wei-Lun Pan broke that mark in 2009.

Overall, Martínez was 108-85 with 40 saves and a 3.24 ERA in Taiwan. Through 2009, he ranks among the CPBL's all-time leaders in wins (1st), games pitched (339, 4th), starts (211, 2nd to Hsieh), losses (1st, 5 over Hsieh), hits allowed (1,458, 1st), homers allowed (1st, 110), walks (1st, 582) and strikeouts (1st, 1,286, 431 over Hsieh).

Let go by Sinon despite his productivity (as was another longtime foreign star, Len Picota) after 2005, the right-hander spent his last two years in the Mexican League. In 2006, he allowed one run in four innings for the Olmecas de Tabasco.

His repertoire included a fastball (peak 93 mph), slider, sinker and changeup.

Sources

• 1996-2006 Baseball Almanacs
• Chinese Wiki Baseball
• CPBL website
• Pat Doyle's Professional Baseball Player Database