Carlos Martinez (SP, STL) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep / NL-Only Leagues

ANALYSIS: Carlos Martinez has incredible stuff-- some of the best among young pitchers in all of baseball, even drawing comparisons to Pedro Martinez. Like Pedro, the Cardinals' prospect is extremely undersized for a pitcher. Despite that, Martinez throws even harder than the future Hall-of-Famer who shares his last name. He can dial it up to triple digits, and then fool opposing hitters with a nasty changeup. He needs to further develop a third pitch, likely his curveball, but the repertoire is coming along. He also needs to fix his command a bit, as he has 10 four-pitch walks this year, and struggles to record outs with a full count, allowing a .700 OBP in such situations. Martinez hasn't really shown whether or not he can succeed as a big league starter yet. After posting a stellar 2.49 ERA in the minors in 2013, he has an impressive 3.00 ERA in two starts in the majors in 2014. Still, given how small the sample size is and his lack of dominance as a reliever this year, I would suggest waiting a bit before jumping on him in mixed leagues. The 22-year-old flame-thrower is likely only in the rotation temporarily, anyway, and could find his way back to the bullpen, or even Triple-A, once Wacha and Garcia return from the DL. Martinez is only really worth an add in NL-Only leagues or the deepest mixed leagues if you're looking for some wins and strikeouts for the short-term. Keep tabs on the young righty, though, as his ceiling is very high.