St. Louis Cardinals: Carlos Martinez Puts on Impressive Session

Sep 26, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Carlos Martinez (18) smiles while standing on the dugout steps between innings of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 26, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Carlos Martinez (18) smiles while standing on the dugout steps between innings of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports /
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St. Louis Cardinals’ fans everywhere have been holding their collective breath when it comes to the team’s exciting young starting pitcher. They can breathe easy now.

The news has been pretty positive regarding the progress of St. Louis Cardinals’ starting pitcher Carlos Martinez, and today it got even better. The flashy pitcher from the Dominican faced hitters for the first time since his injury in September of last season. The result? According to most, Martinez was extremely effective and was un-hittable today in his first live session against hitters.

Fellow St. Louis Cardinals’ starting pitcher Adam Wainwright mentioned to Rick Hummel “It was probably the best I’ve ever seen anyone throw off the mound from behind (the plate). I’m serious. I’ve never seen any live BP like that before. He was just unbelievable.”

The Cardinals have made no bones about the fact that they are going to be very cautious with Martinez during Spring Training. Many have assumed that the Cardinals could even leave him off of the roster to start the season, due to the schedule having a slew of off day’s built in early on. This would allow the Cardinals to give Martinez even more rest to help prevent another injury to his shoulder.

Now that a successful live BP is out of the way, Martinez will have options before he gets into some live game action — as according to Hummel Martinez will have the choice to do “another live BP or an extended session” as his next step.

This could be the season we see Carlos take off, he had a very nice first full season as a starter last season, and the sky is the limit for him this season. A successful season by he and Wainwright will set the standard for the pitching staff, and with this competitive group it will be a very good thing.

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Martinez will have the chance to not just be a good pitcher for the Cardinals, but we could be seeing the Cardinals’ right-hander become the next NL Central pitcher to win the Cy Young award.

Wainwright wasn’t alone in singing the praises of Martinez today, as Brayan Pena had this to say, “It was a very productive day. He was impressive. This is a guy who has that special talent it only takes time to explode. He’s got talent that I haven’t seen in a while.” While Pena hasn’t cuaght too man great pitchers lately, this is good to hear.

Next: What can we expect from Carlos Martinez?

Not that I expect guys to be saying Martinez just is an average pitcher. It just confirms that Carlos is looking good and will be ready to compete and hopefully will be ready to go at the start of the season. He will be a key cog in Cardinals’ quest for a fourth straight NL Central title.