Rodolfo Martinez got noticed in camp during live batting practice

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles are hoping to catch Albert Suárez in a bottle.

They signed pitcher Rodolfo Martinez to a minor league contract on Nov. 1, the magnitude of it pretty much lost on the baseball world. He hadn’t been with an affiliated team since 2019 in the Giants system, with his travels taking him to the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Japan.

Sounds kind of familiar, except Suárez signed with the Orioles in September 2023 after pitching in Japan and Korea, his last affiliated ball was 2018 and he appeared in 40 major league games with the Giants from 2016-17.

“I was in San Francisco before the pandemic and then they sent us home for two weeks while everything was supposed to get cleared out, but as we all know, that didn’t happen,” Martinez said. “The Giants cleared house and they didn’t want me there anymore.”

The most important similarity would be for Martinez to have the same success as Suárez, who made 24 starts and eight relief appearances for the Orioles last season after reporting to camp as a non-roster invitee and registered a 3.70 ERA in 133 2/3 innings. He was in come-to-the-rescue mode as rotation injuries piled up, and he could provide length out of the bullpen.

No one predicted that Suárez would be one of the most important contributors on the team.

Maybe they will say the same about Martinez.

Exhibition games don’t begin until Saturday, but Martinez already impressed with his inning in live batting practice at Ed Smith Stadium. He struck out Enrique Bradfield Jr. and Samuel Basallo, the organization’s No. 6 and 1 prospects per Baseball America, and retired Dylan Beavers, who’s seventh, on a fly ball.

“That comes over from the Dominican when I played (winter ball) over there with Escogido,” Martinez said this morning via interpreter Brandon Quinones. “Thankfully I’ve been able to carry over some of that and I feel really good.”

Martinez usually plays winter ball for Toros. He got into 14 games with Escogido – managed by Albert Pujols - after being in the Mexican League, which might have put him ahead of some other pitchers in camp.

“I think in the Dominican I was able to do a lot of really good things,” he said. “There’s a lot of really good players over there, and being able to face them helped me out. And thankfully, Pujols gave me a lot of opportunities to perform.”

The scoreboard at Ed Smith Stadium doesn’t always post radar gun readings for live batting practice, but Martinez can bring the heat, with his four-seam fastball touching triple digits. He supposedly hit 104 mph in Japan.

The rest of the repertoire includes a slider, splitter and sinker, and whatever he was throwing earlier this week got the job done.

“I want to demonstrate my talent, do a lot of good work and just be a part of the team,” Martinez said.

“There were several teams (interested), including the Yankees, but I decided to sign here because I felt like I had a good opportunity to perform and help the team win.”

It worked for Suárez.

“You never want to get overly excited in spring training, especially early, but when a guy's throwing high 90s with a split like that and a slider he can throw for strikes, that does open your eyes,” said manager Brandon Hyde. "I had never seen him throw before and that was exciting."

* Hyde said Jordan Westburg will get reps at second base but mostly play third this season.

Westburg made 64 starts at third last season and 41 at second.

"Still keep second there in his back pocket," Hyde said.

* Tomoyuki Sugano threw his first bullpen session earlier today and really impressed. More on that later.

Catcher Gary Sánchez kept nodding or pointing his mitt at Sugano in approval, especially with the breaking stuff.

Catcher Creed Willems is in camp today and caught some of the bullpen sessions. We don’t know whether he’s added to the roster or just here to assist.