Ramon Martinez has one of the more intriguing roles in the Orioles organization.
He’s officially listed as special assignment pitching instructor, which means he goes wherever he is needed, from the majors to the low minors, to help teach and evaluate the Orioles’ arms.
Unofficially, he has been a conduit between the organization’s pitching coaches and its Latin American pitchers, many of whom look up to Martinez, a Dominican Republic native who spent 14 seasons in the majors and won 135 games.
The older brother of Hall-of-Famer Pedro, Ramon Martinez spent a chunk of his career in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, where he worked with former Orioles’ pitching coach Dave Wallace.
Martinez, 49, came on board with the Orioles in 2015, at Wallace’s request, and had been lauded by the organization for his work by Orioles manager Buck Showalter, among others.
Martinez recently was at Double-A Bowie and caught up with Adam Pohl, the voice of Baysox.
In this week’s podcast with Pohl, Martinez talks about the transition that Latin players must go through when they come to the United States to play baseball. He also discusses the difficulty for young players who leave their original organization and end up in a new place and with a new team.
Martinez is part pitching coach and also part sounding board for some of the Orioles’ youngest and most promising arms. He feels like the system is getting better, and said he loves his job, mentoring the Orioles’ future arms.
Martinez’s point of view is definitely one we don’t hear about often.
In the second part of Pohl’s podcast, he discusses the four promising young outfielders at Bowie: Austin Hays, Cedric Mullins, Anthony Santander and DJ Stewart. All four homered in one game Wednesday, and Pohl provides some insight, and his calls from that impressive power supply.
It’s a podcast worth checking out.
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Road trip should be 6-0 not 3-3; I like above lineups but prefer NOT to have Trumbo and Davis in same starting order but if they are separate them with Mancini or Jones. Putting Schoop at cleanup is too much pressure on a young kid. Beckham is a shock to the system but a good one; perhaps our search for leadoff man is finally over; even better if JJ works with him on positioning and other defensive skills. Look at how Os saved money on a platoon of Castillo and Joseph vs Wieters.
With four supposed outfield stars at BOWIE, we could have two more positions under club control and low price...two young guys on either side of Jones sounds great but wait and see. Certainly pitching top of needs but could another Hellickson (not a two month rental) be found for Os as saving money to afford the Manny March Mania is a must! No Ubaldo, Miley and JJ saves 30-40 million next year.
Mr Will