Martinez, 26, returns to professional baseball after a two-year hiatus. A veteran of six minor league seasons with the Seattle Mariners organization, the Dominican righty holds a 13-17 career record and a 4.57 ERA in just over 307 innings adding 272 strikeouts to just 115 walks. Martinez advanced as a high as Double-A West Tennessee before being released in 2008.

Originally signed by the Seattle Mariners as a sixteen year-old free agent, the Dominican righty made his professional debut in the Arizona league in 2003 and struck out 24 batters in just 21 innings of work that season. The following year in stops in Rookie, Low-A and High-A, Martinez collected a 4.80 ERA in 30 innings striking out 27 and walking just 13. Martinez best stint came in 2005 with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the Midwest League. In 39.1 innings, the Puerto Plata native boasted a 3.66 ERA for the single-A affiliate of the Mariners while allowing 39 hits and adding 29 strikeouts.

Martinez followed up with a 3.98 showing in 2006 throwing 52 innings for the Timber Rattlers and earned a promotion to the Single-A Advanced High Desert Mavericks in 2007 where he earned a 6-3 record and 4.48 ERA in 88.1 innings while striking out 85 against just 26 walks. Martinez was released following 43.1 innings in Double-A West Tennessee which saw the righty post a 4.78 ERA in 43.1 innings. Primarily a reliever through his first six seasons in professional baseball, Martinez will likely be used in Greg Tagert’s starting rotation in 2011.