ARLINGTON, Tex. — Nick Martinez has always held on to this belief, the one that sustains every amateur baseball player with a dream.
“If you’re good, someone’s going to find you, and you’re going to get your shot,” Martinez said last week. “I just always had it in my mind that I was going to play professionally.”
Martinez spoke by his locker in the Texas Rangers’ clubhouse, in a row with other pitchers. He took an unusual path to get there, but he is thriving. In seven starts, Martinez is 2-0 with a 1.88 earned run average and has allowed only one home run.