Minor League Baseball and the Florida State League announced on Monday afternoon that right-handed pitcher Juan Martinez was named as the league’s Pitcher of the Week for his performance last week against the Clearwater Threshers.
Juan Martinez only pitched in one game this week, but he made sure it counted. The 21-year-old took the mound to start game two of the Daytona Tortugas doubleheader in Clearwater on Thursday. He matched a season high as he threw 5.0 innings. He had a season best zero hits allowed, didn’t allow any runs, walked two batters, and he had five strikeouts in the game while throwing just 75 pitches before the game was turned over to the bullpen.
A 5-inning, no-hit performance earned the Venezuelan native the Pitcher of the Week award. It was just a continuation of his strong start to the 2024 season. Daytona’s had four pitchers working in a piggy-back system where they will start one game then relieve the next time out – but in long relief. Martinez has been a part of that mix, making four starts and pitching in relief in three games this season. He’s not allowed more than two earned runs in any of his seven outings this season and lowered his ERA on the season to 2.08 with his performance last week.
Over the span of his 26.0 innings he’s allowed just 17 hits, no home runs, walked 12, and he has struck out 24. Opposing batters are hitting just .179/.284/.232 against him. They have 12 singles and five doubles against him in 109 plate appearances.
The win by Martinez follows up last week that saw the Cincinnati Reds organization have two players earn Player of the Week honors in their respective leagues.
Here are the other Reds players to win a Player of the Week Award in 2024:
| Player | League | Time Frame |
| Ricardo Cabrera | Florida State League | April 15-21 |
| Rhett Lowder | Midwest League | April 22-28 |
| Carson Spiers | International League | May 6-12 |
| Tyler Callihan | Southern League | May 6-12 |
| Juan Martinez | Florida State League | May 13-19 |