Independent Baseball Chatter – by Bob Wirz
RHP Chris Martin (Grand Prairie ’10) ranks among the most recent crop of players who started their professional journey in the American Association to reach the major leagues, and now he has a new opportunity, this time with the New York Yankees.
Martin, 28, broke into the majors last season when he relieved 16 times for the Colorado Rockies (0-0, 6.75 with 14 strikeouts in 15.2 innings), a mere four years after debuting at Grand Prairie, where he put together a 4-0 record and 1.95 earned run average in 13 appearances.
Colorado designated the Arkansas native for assignment, and the Yankees obtained him. He is expected to vie for a spot in their bullpen starting next month when spring training starts in Tampa.
This will be the third major league training camp opportunity for the 6-foot-7 hurler. He got into two spring training games for Boston in 2013, and he spent the last of his three years in the Red Sox farm system that summer, going 5-3 and saving five more games for their top two minor league teams. Martin impressed the Rockies last spring when they used him in nine Cactus League games.
