CINCINNATI (WXIX) – CHICAGO \u2014 In the bottom of the second inning last night, Nick Martinez jogged in from the bullpen to replace injured starting pitcher Nick Lodolo (blister). <\/p>\n
When Martinez met up with Terry Francona on the mound, the manager cracked a joke: \u201cHow\u2019d that bullpen treat you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Lodolo landed on the injured list on Tuesday with a blister issue that\u2019s only expected to keep him out for the minimum 15 days. The Reds are filling that spot in the rotation by slotting Martinez back in. <\/p>\n
Martinez, \u201cThe Wild Card,\u201d has had his role change three times over the last week. <\/p>\n
He was a full-fledged starter through Wednesday night, when the Reds dealt for Zack Littell to round out their rotation depth and immediately moved Martinez to the bullpen. Martinez was available to pitch in relief on Saturday, fully warmed up twice on Sunday without entering the game and then replaced Lodolo on Monday. Now, Martinez is a starting pitcher again, at least until Lodolo or Hunter Greene return in a couple of weeks. <\/p>\n
Right after the Reds acquired Littell, Francona told Martinez, \u201cMy guess is that you\u2019ll be starting again.\u201d Rotation depth is always critical late in the season, and Martinez was still going to be the Reds\u2019 sixth starter. The plan changed before there was even a full turn through the Reds\u2019 rotation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure I thought it\u2019d be this quick,\u201d Francona said.<\/p>\n
Martinez makes it look easy as he flip flops from starter to reliever to starter. But for him, it\u2019s much more of a science than an art. He always wears the Pulse sleeve on his throwing arm when he plays catch and works in the bullpen before games. <\/p>\n
\u201cPulse has an algorithm that allows me to be very efficient and intentional with my throwing program,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cIt gives me concrete data for what my workload looks like. You still have to listen to your body. It\u2019s not a clinical thing, and you\u2019re not completely immune to getting hurt. But you can definitely mitigate those risks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pulse lets him tailor his throwing program between outings to whatever the circumstances are asking. The application tracks his throws as well as the intensity, and it also applies information from different biological factors. <\/p>\n
It spits out a key number called \u201cThe AC ratio\u201d that measures the stress you\u2019re putting on your arm. <\/p>\n
\u201cYour acute to chronic workload,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cIt takes what you did the last week and maps it out over a month. It spits out a ratio. If that ratio gets too high, then you\u2019re more prone to injury. If it\u2019s too low and I jump into a high-stress game, I\u2019m also at risk of injury. There\u2019s a range that you want to stay in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martinez said that using the Pulse sleeve and learning from the AC ratio is the key to his ability to bounce so quickly between different roles. He always knows how he should be preparing for a game, and he can map out a completely different plan with the push of a button if the circumstances change. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a major factor in why I\u2019m able to do this,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he gives you an answer, there\u2019s a reason behind it,\u201d Francona said. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s hope that this will only be a quick stint in the rotation for Martinez. Greene has a rehab game scheduled for Friday, where he\u2019s on track to throw about 80 pitches. Next steps after that for Greene are TBD. <\/p>\n
Lodolo was just getting his left index finger worked on on Tuesday, but the plan for him is to pick up a ball (not a baseball, no seams) and throw on Wednesday to help toughen up that finger. Because the blister didn\u2019t pop, it\u2019s not a huge setback. There was even conversation about not placing Lodolo on the IL, but the Reds made the move because the bullpen needed some help and because Lodolo couldn\u2019t be entirely sure that he\u2019d be ready to pitch again in just a few days. Francona said that he\u2019d bet that Lodolo will be ready to pitch in a game again even before he\u2019s eligible to return from the IL in 15 days. <\/p>\n
Without Martinez in the bullpen, that unit takes a hit. Emilio Pag\u00e1n, Tony Santillan and Scott Barlow have been pitching a ton, and the plan to improve the bullpen revolved around placing Martinez in the bullpen on a full-time basis. If the Reds play a close game vs. the Cubs tonight, then they\u2019ll probably need some less frequent high-leverage options to get some big outs. <\/p>\n
2025 WXIX<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CINCINNATI (WXIX) – CHICAGO \u2014 In the bottom of the second inning last night, Nick Martinez jogged in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2400],"tags":[537,5,12528,535,50,4259,6095,4,557,536,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-227943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-reds","8":"tag-athletics","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-cardinals-reds-baseball","11":"tag-cincinnati","12":"tag-cincinnati-reds","13":"tag-cincinnatireds","14":"tag-mens-sports","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-professional-baseball","17":"tag-reds","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}