NEW JOHNNY ON THE SPOT?
Young righty Martes makes no secret of his affinity for Cueto’s pitching style
OAKLAND, Calif. — During his rapid ascent through the minor leagues, Francis Martes would occasionally hear the comparison scouts most commonly stuck on him.
If his stocky build and mannerisms on the mound bear resemblance to a young Johnny Cueto’s, it’s not a coincidence.
Martes’ favorite pitcher has long been Cueto, a two-time All-Star and 2015 World Series champion now in his second season with the San Francisco Giants. So much so that the Astros’ 21-year-old righthander has been known to mix in the occasional quick-pitch or turn away from a hitter in his
delivery to emulate his baseball idol.
“He loves Johnny Cueto, like to the nth degree,” said Astros manager A.J. Hinch, who first learned of Martes’ idolization of Cueto during a getto-know-you meeting at the start of spring training. “I don’t see any dreadlocks yet, but those might be in his future.”
Martes, who will get one more turn in the Astros’ decimated rotation on Tuesday night against the Oakland Athletics, features undoubtedly a different repertoire than Cueto. For one, he’s essentially a two-pitch pitcher with his mid-toupper-90s fastball and power slider. Earlier in his career, the now 31-year-old Cueto threw a sinker and a lot more changeups than Martes does now.
Even at a young age,
Cueto also threw a ton of strikes, which is still at times an issue for Martes.
But the parallels are evident, especially in body type. Martes is listed at 6-1 and 225 pounds, Cueto at 5-11 and 220 pounds. Both are also from the Dominican Republic.
“Then you watch his mannerisms and you see the energy in his delivery, the turn away from the hitter occasionally, the quick-pitch, just a lot of his mannerisms — you can tell he studied his video,” Hinch said.
Martes said he has never met Cueto, though he hopes to one day. He remembers watching him on television in the years before Martes signed with the Miami Marlins as a 16-year-old in 2012. Whenever he would play MLB The Show on his Playstation 2, he would choose the Cincinnati Reds so he could pitch as Cueto.
“But only Cueto,” he said.
In his first two outings as a major leaguer — a 32⁄3-inning relief appearance June 9 and an impressive five-inning start June 14 — Martes has thrown only one quick-pitch. In the minors, he was much more inclined to experiment with Cueto staples like quick-pitches or extreme counter rotation in his delivery to attempt to disrupt a hitter’s timing.
“And he also has that little wiggle,” his Class AA manager, Rodney Linares, said by phone on Monday. “He hasn’t broken out in the big leagues, probably because he’s been a little nervous. But when he was down here (last season), he was doing his little Johnny Cueto wiggle.”
Martes is very much still developing as a pitcher. He doesn’t turn even 22 until November. He’s the youngest player in the American League and the secondyoungest pitcher to appear in a major league game this season behind only 20-year-old Los Angeles Dodgers lefthander Julio Urias.
And while his stuff isn’t in question, his ability to maintain his delivery consistently from pitch to pitch and inning to inning is key to his performance.
If only he could fill up the strike zone as efficiently as Cueto.
“We were encouraged by what we saw (in his last start) because his stuff is elite across the board, and it plays in the strike zone,” Hinch said. “When he’s in the strike zone and not giving away a free 90 feet, he’s a completely dominant pitcher.”