Matt of Matt's Bats: Rafael Martin's long and winding road

We are barely into the third week of baseball, but there is already a heartwarming story about one of the players on the Nationals, Rafael Martin. Martin's story is like something out of a rock and roll ballad. Martin almost let go of his dream of becoming a professional baseball player, but held on tightly, kept working hard and now he's a pitcher for the Nationals.

Rafael Martin Romero was born on May 16, 1984, in San Fernando, Calif. That makes him about 31. He attended Jurupa Valley High School, where he played for the varsity team. The University of Redlands and Redlands Community College offered Martin the chance to walk on to their baseball teams, but they did not offer scholarships, so Martin opted not to attend college. Instead, he found a job with a contractor in Fontana, Calif.

Martin didn't let go of his love of baseball, even though it didn't look like he could play professionally. While he was working construction to earn a living, he played beer league softball and pitched in an amateur men's baseball league on Sundays.

In 2007, the owner of the Saraperos de Saltillo, a Mexican league team, offered him a tryout and later a roster spot. There, he played alongside Victor Garate, who pitched two innings for the Nationals in 2009 and gave up five runs. The road to the big leagues was very, very long.

In February 2010, the Nationals bought out Martin's contract and invited him to spring training. When the suburban construction worker put on the Nationals uniform that day, he fulfilled his dream at becoming a pro ballplayer. Over the next few years, however, Martin was sent on an elevator ride up and down between different levels of minor league ball. He was originally assigned to the Nationals' Double-A affiliate in Harrisburg, but after one and a half seasons in Pennsylvania, they sent him down to Single-A Potomac. In 2012, he originally went up to the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs, but due to a shoulder injury ended up on the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League squad in Florida before the season ended. In 2013, Martin bounced between Potomac and the GCL, this time due to elbow injuries. In 2014, he started in Syracuse, but finished a phenomenal season, moving between Harrisburg and Potomac. How phenomenal? In 47 innings pitched, he had an ERA of 0.00. That's mainly because of his slider, which scouts measured as spinning at almost 3,000 RPM. That's as fast as a car or airplane engine turns!

Last Wednesday, Martin got the life-changing news that he was being called up to the big leagues. He debuted at historic Fenway Park in Boston. At almost 31, he became the oldest player to make his major league debut at Fenway Park in almost 70 years. He got the call in the bottom of the seventh inning and immediately got Mookie Betts to fly out. A few pitches later, he recorded his first major league strikeout against Hanley Ramirez. Then, the "Mexican Assassin," as Gio Gonzalez nicknamed him, had something incredible happen: He struck out Allen Craig, Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino and Xander Bogaerts, too. Five consecutive batters set down. He still has his 0.00 ERA.

Tell the people at Disney to start writing the movie script, and Bruce Springsteen or John Mellencamp to start working on the soundtrack. Martin's story would be a box office hit.

Ten-year-old Matt blogs about the Nationals at Matt's Bats. Follow him on Twitter: @MattsBats. He shares his views weekly as part of MASNsports.com's initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.