Nick Martinez headshot

Nick Martinez

Tampa Bay Rays · through 2026-09-02

On the league boards

Why he matters right now

Nick Martinez is top-10 in the majors in wins

He is 9th in wins at 13 — placements on MLB's own season boards, which rank every QUALIFIED pitcher in the sport rather than the few dozen this site tracks. Qualified is MLB's own bar, and it is the reason a part-season player with a big number is not on these boards at all.

This has been his headline for 2 straight days.

The case in 30 seconds

  • 13 9th in wins at 13 on MLB's season leaderboards MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
  • 2.99 ERA over 154 innings, with 91 strikeouts, 26 starts and a 1.10 WHIP snapshot pitching board — the union of MLB's top-10 pitching boards, then MLB's 1.0 IP per team game rule applied; not the league's full qualified pool

The honest caveat

A top-ten finish is a position on a board, not a verdict on a player. The men just below him on it are not meaningfully worse, and one good week moves several places.

What to watch next

Next up: at Texas Rangers.

Every claim above, with its source (2)
  1. 9th in wins at 13 on MLB's season leaderboards MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
  2. ERA over 154 innings, with 91 strikeouts, 26 starts and a 1.10 WHIP snapshot pitching board — the union of MLB's top-10 pitching boards, then MLB's 1.0 IP per team game rule applied; not the league's full qualified pool

The evidence

What to watch next

at Texas Rangers Globe Life Field · 8:05 p.m. ET Opposite Trevor Williams

Announced to start at Texas Rangers.

Situational splits

SplitIPERASOWHIPAVG against
vs RHP 60.0 35 1.20 .278
vs LHP 92.2 56 1.05 .231
Home 80.1 3.92 51 1.21 .268
Away 73.1 1.96 40 0.98 .230
Day 53.1 2.53 35 0.98 .228
Night 100.1 3.23 56 1.17 .261

2026 season, MLB Stats API. A split with no plate appearances is omitted rather than shown as zeroes.

26G
26GS
153.2IP
13-4W-L
2.99ERA
1.10WHIP
91K
5.33K/9
0SV

Strikeout chase

ChaseCurrentPaceNeeded from hereStatus
200 K 91 106 109 K · 25.3 per outing over 4.3 left IMPOSSIBLE
250 K 91 106 159 K · 37.0 per outing over 4.3 left IMPOSSIBLE
300 K 91 106 209 K · 48.6 per outing over 4.3 left IMPOSSIBLE
350 K 91 106 259 K · 60.2 per outing over 4.3 left IMPOSSIBLE
383 K 91 106 292 K · 67.9 per outing over 4.3 left IMPOSSIBLE

ERA & WHIP finish lines

FinishCurrentRequired rest-of-seasonStatus
Sub-2.00 ERA2.99 -3.96 over about 25 innings IMPOSSIBLE
Sub-1.75 ERA2.99 -5.73 over about 25 innings IMPOSSIBLE
Sub-1.50 ERA2.99 -7.49 over about 25 innings IMPOSSIBLE
Sub-1.00 WHIP1.10 0.40 EXTREME
Sub-0.90 WHIP1.10 -0.31 IMPOSSIBLE

Recent game log

Derived nightly from the snapshot ledger — each row is the difference between consecutive days; multi-day rows are labeled.

DateOppResultIPK
2026-08-18 Toronto Blue Jays L 5-10 3.25
2026-08-11 Athletics W 12-4 9.05
2026-08-05 Colorado Rockies W 4-0 5.24
2026-07-25 Cleveland Guardians W 3-0 6.05
2026-07-20 Toronto Blue Jays W 7-1 6.00

Recent highlights

Lahman + Retrosheet context

How this season fits history

Comparable finishesMedian 110 K

n=871 near this checkpoint

Chase history

61769107-0509-02
Strikeouts, day by day
9810511207-0509-02
Projected season K, day by day

Stuff watch

Sinker velocity, start by start

Every start's average against his own trailing baseline of 92.5 ± 0.7 mph. Ringed dots sit more than one standard deviation under the baseline; last start 92.66 mph (2026-08-05).

94912026-03-30: 93.09 mph (n=17)2026-04-05: 92.15 mph (n=17)2026-04-11: 92.93 mph (n=23)2026-04-17: 93.11 mph (n=39)2026-04-22: 92.06 mph (n=46)2026-04-28: 92.19 mph (n=24)2026-05-04: 91.09 mph (n=23)2026-05-10: 93.67 mph (n=15)2026-05-16: 92.59 mph (n=21)2026-05-22: 93.02 mph (n=25)2026-05-29: 92.09 mph (n=42)2026-06-03: 91.95 mph (n=19)2026-06-09: 92.6 mph (n=21)2026-06-15: 93.7 mph (n=26)2026-06-21: 93.18 mph (n=22)2026-06-26: 92.22 mph (n=27)2026-07-03: 92.71 mph (n=31)2026-07-10: 92.34 mph (n=14)2026-07-20: 91.84 mph (n=28)2026-07-25: 92.13 mph (n=31)2026-07-31: 91.92 mph (n=27)2026-08-05: 92.66 mph (n=15)

No active signals — inside one standard deviation of his own baseline. A trend report, not a diagnosis.