Following a disastrous outing against the Reds on Friday, the Arizona Diamondbacks have optioned RHP Justin Martinez to Triple-A Reno.
Martinez has slowly climbed the ranks inside the Diamondbacks organization over the past five years. Finally, after a good couple of outings in AA and AAA last year, the 21-year-old got the call up to the majors at the beginning of June.
While his first three outings with Arizona were fairly decent, the rookie struggled immensely against the Reds in his fourth appearance on a big league mound. Martinez only managed to get one out as he allowed five earned runs on four hits, one of which was a grand slam to blow the game open.
In return for sending him back down to Triple-A, the Diamondbacks have brought up another rookie in Brandon Pfaadt. This will be Pfaadt’s third time around with the Diamondbacks in 2023, as he has shuffled back and forth between the majors and Reno.
However, his time in Arizona has not treated him well so far. Through six starts, Pfaadt has recorded a 9.82 ERA and has yet to make it past five innings of work.
Unfortunately, with Zach Davies and Merrill Kelly still on the IL for the Diamondbacks, they have been left with no other choice. Entering their current series against the Reds, the D-backs had just three official starting pitchers in their rotation.
Brandon Pfaadt will get the start for game two of this series against the Reds on Saturday.
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