Raidel Martínez

Raidel Martínez Pérez

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 176 lb.

• High School? Escuela de Iniciación Deportiva Ormani Arenado Llonch

• Born October 11, 1996 in San Juan y Martínez, Pinar del Río Cuba

Biographical Information

Raidel Martínez has pitched for the Cuban national team and in both the Cuban Serie Nacional and Nippon Pro Baseball.

He debuted in the Serie Nacional in 2015-2016, for Pinar del Río. He went 0-2 with a 4.46 ERA while topping 90 mph on the radar gun. He was 2-2 with a 1.45 ERA for Pinar del Río to open 2016-2017; when the team did not qualify for the second half, he was picked up by Ciego de Ávila in the draft and had a 5-1, 2.61 record for them. Had he qualified (he was 4 1/3 IP shy of the 90 needed), his 2.10 season ERA would have ranked 3rd behind Lázaro Blanco and Alaín Sánchez. In the finals, he struggled against Granma, relieving Vladimir García with a 3-1 lead in the 8th but allowing a two-run double to Carlos Benitez. In the 10th, Alfredo Despaigne homered for the loss.

He made the Cuban squad for the 2017 World Baseball Classic at age 20, their youngest pitcher (only Yoelkis Céspedes was younger among the position players). He made one appearance, in a 11-6 loss to Samurai Japan. He relieved José García in the 5th with one out and a 6-1 deficit. Seiji Kobayashi singled and Yurisbel Gracial made an error on the play. Tetsuto Yamada grounded out but Ryosuke Kikuchi singled in a run and Raidel walked Norichika Aoki. Jonder Martínez relieved and escaped the jam. His 27.00 ERA was Cuba's second-highest in the Classic, behind José García. That season, he joined the Chunichi Dragons as part of the arrangement between NPB and the Serie Nacional. He was 1-2 with a 5.96 ERA for Chunichi's farm team that year and was not called up to the top club.

The right-hander reinforced Granma for the 2017-2018 Serie Nacional finals. He saved games 3 and 5 against Las Tunas. Up 3 games to 2, he entered game 6 in relief of Leandro Martínez with a 2-2 tie. With one out in the 9th, he allowed hits to Yordanis Alarcón and Andrés Quiala. Yuniesky Larduet hit into a force at second; on the play, Alarcón overran third and was tagged out by Raúl González on the throw back in to seemingly force extra innings. On video replay, though, the call was reversed! A passed ball advanced Larduet while Alarcón held at third. With a base open, LF Jorge Yhonson was intentionally walked to bring up 41-year-old DH Danel Castro. He hit one out for a seeming grand slam - but again appearances were deceiving. As Castro was mobbed by teammates after touching first and never finished circling the bases, the play was ruled a game-winning single rather than homer as per rule 9.06. He got his revenge in game 7, relieving Sánchez in the 9th with a 3-1 lead, a man on third and no outs; he was called on to face Castro and retired him this time. Yosvani Alarcón singled in a run but Martínez picked him off. Alexander Ayala and Yunior Paumier singled but he recovered to retire Rafael Viñales on a fly to save the title-winning game, giving Granma its second title.

With Granma in the 2018 Caribbean Series, he had two saves (tying Josh Judy for second in the event) and allowed one unearned run in 1 1/3 IP over 3 games (tying for 3rd in games pitched, one shy of Wirfin Obispo and Robby Rowland). He saved Blanco's opening win over the Caribes de Anzoátegui, balking in an inherited runner before walking Balbino Fuenmayor and whiffing Luis Jimenez to end it. Relieving Sánchez with a 5-4 lead, a man on second and no outs against the Tomateros de Culiacán, he whiffed Justin Greene and retired Jesse Castillo and Sebastian Elizalde. He debuted for Chunichi in NPB that summer before joining Cuba for the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games.