Arizona hosts UT Arlington on Wednesday. In an alternate timeline, Matthew Martinez would be pitching for the Mavericks instead of the Wildcats.
That was the idea when UTA assistant coach Mike Taylor asked his longtime friend, UA assistant Trip Couch, to give Martinez a look in the spring of 2023. Couch was going to be in attendance anyway for South Mountain Community College’s game at Central Arizona to see Martinez’s then and future teammate, Raul Garayzar.
“Before the game I'm down there talking to the coach at South Mountain, and we're talking about Raul,” Couch said Tuesday. “I go, ‘Is there anybody else you know that I should put my eyes on?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah, you need to see Matt Martinez, who's been throwing really well.’ I go, ‘Yeah, it's funny you say that, because my buddy had asked me to watch him.’”
Couch watched Martinez pitch in relief of Garayzar and liked what he saw. Martinez had an orthodox, over-the-top delivery. His best pitch was a changeup. He didn’t light up the radar gun. But Martinez had something UA head coach Chip Hale was seeking.
Arizona pitcher Matthew Martinez gets in his band workout just before first pitch against San Diego on Feb. 21, 2025, at Hi Corbett Field.
“I come back to Tucson, we're sitting in a meeting and ... Chip was kind of upset,” Couch said. “He goes, ‘Just go find me some guys that will compete ... and just get people out.’
“I go, ‘Well, it's funny, you say that.’ I showed him a little video I'd taken of Matt. ‘I think this guy's exactly what you're describing. It's not perfect, the delivery is not textbook, but man, he likes to compete and he gets after it.’ And he's like, ‘Well, go sign him.’
“I ended up calling my buddy and going, ‘Hey, this probably isn’t what you want to hear: He’s good enough to pitch for you — but he’s good enough to pitch for us, too.’”
That’s how Martinez ended up at the school he wanted to go to all along.
Martinez grew up in the Phoenix area and attended Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale. His father, Joe, pitched for the Wildcats. He and his wife, Stacy, are Arizona alums. They met at the UA.
“It was always my dream,” Matthew Martinez said. “Ever since I was little, every weekend, U of A baseball was on, U of A basketball, U of A football. I've always been a Wildcat at heart.”
Arizona right-hander Matthew Martinez gets his band work in before the Wildcats’ practice session at Hi Corbett Field on Feb. 4, 2025.
As a baseball prospect, Martinez was a bit of a late bloomer. He hit a growth spurt as an upperclassman in high school. He was largely overlooked on the recruiting circuit.
Junior college provided an on-ramp to Division I baseball. Martinez continued to fill out physically. And he developed a pitch — a low-70s changeup — that’s made him a useful reliever.
“I started throwing it in high school, and it honestly wasn't crazy good until I got to community college,” said Martinez, a senior who has a 2-0 record, one save and a 3.97 ERA in 10 appearances.
“I started working on it every day. I would work on throwing it in catch play. And then, over time, it just became my go-to pitch.
“I've leaned on it since. It's kind of a feel pitch. And once you find it, you can't lose it.”
Martinez said he throws the changeup “over 75% of the time.” But unless he hangs it, hitters have a difficult time making hard contact against it — especially left-handed hitters.
Arizona reliever Matthew Martinez pumps his arms after getting a strikeout and stranding Arizona State runners at second and third in the sixth inning of their game at Hi Corbett Field on March 16, 2024.
As a result, Martinez, who throws right-handed, “is almost like a left-handed pitcher,” Hale said. Arizona hasn’t used its left-handed relievers very much, and Martinez’s effectiveness is one of the reasons.
“It's so different than anything you've ever seen,” said UA shortstop Mason White, a left-handed hitter who’s faced Martinez twice in intrasquad scrimmages. “It's almost like a left-handed curveball because it's so slow.
"He's so animated that you think he's throwing a fastball — but it's not a fastball. And then he can rear back and throw a fastball that looks way harder than that. So it's just a really weird at-bat.”
UA right-hander Collin McKinney said he and his teammates will “kind of giggle ... watching people swing out of their shoes” at Martinez’s changeup. UA pitching coach Kevin Vance described the offering as “super deceptive” because of Martinez’s high-effort delivery. He throws his fastball the same way.
“It looks like he's trying to throw it really hard, and it's not really hard,” Vance said. “He has a breaking ball that we use a decent amount, and he always has an 89- to 91-mile-an-hour fastball in his back pocket to keep them on their toes.
Arizona’s Brendan Summerhill celebrates his two-RBI triple in the second inning against Cincinnati on March 15, 2025, at Hi Corbett Field.
“He's a competitor is the main thing. He has good pitches, but he can really compete. And he's fun to watch. It's gets people going.”
Summerhill back?
UA outfielder Brendan Summerhill, who last played in late March, could return to the lineup vs. UT Arlington.
“I’m hoping tomorrow,” UA hitting coach Toby DeMello said Tuesday. “It’s looking that way.”
Summerhill, who suffered a fractured right hand March 23 at West Virginia, likely will serve as the designated hitter if he’s able to play. He started taking batting practice last week.
“He’s been good,” DeMello said. “I’m excited to see his name in the lineup.”
Summerhill leads the Wildcats in the triple-slash categories, posting a .409/.500/.656 line in 23 starts. Arizona won the game that he exited, boosting its record at the time to 18-5. The Wildcats have gone 10-6 since.
DeMello is looking forward to having a full lineup this week after Summerhill, Easton Breyfogle (quadriceps) and Andrew Cain (knee) all missed time. With Summerhill back at the top of the lineup, everyone else can hit where they slot in best.
“It allows some comfort with some guys,” DeMello said. “When you get settled into where you like to hit in the lineup, and then you have to move, you’re talking about moving eight different guys.
“We had the same thing in ’23. Chase (Davis) was hitting (second) to start the season, and he didn’t like it. We ended up making the switch where Mac (Bingham) went from the four-hole to leadoff, Nik McClaughry hit second, Chase hit three and we got rolling.
“I do think your lineup construction is really important to the dynamic of what you want to do. When you take away a guy whose on-base percentage was .500 ... and with (Aaron) Walton behind him, it’s a lot of games where the opposing team’s got two runners on with nobody out in the first inning. It puts stress on the other team early. So hopefully we get that back.”
Inside pitch
– Arizona earned a host spot in D1Baseball’s latest projection of the NCAA field of 64. D1 has the UA as the No. 13 overall seed, hosting UC Irvine, USC and Fresno State. The Wildcats are opposite No. 4 overall seed LSU, led by former UA coach Jay Johnson.
– Wednesday is Arizona baseball’s annual “Bark in the Park” event, where fans can bring their dogs to the game. Garayzar (0-0, 2.45 ERA) is slated to start for the Wildcats.
