ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The projected St. Louis Cardinals starting rotation on Opening Day 2020 includes Jack Flaherty, Miles Mikolas, Dakota Hudson and Adam Wainwright, then among the many arms fighting for the fifth spot is Carlos Martinez.
Tsunami is 100% focused on returning to the rotation, according to what Martinez himself has said repeatedly for the last few seasons and John Mozeliak, who spoke to our Tom Ackerman on Sports on a Sunday Morning.
Martinez will enter spring training after saving 24 games for the Cardinals in 2019 – all coming after June. He appeared in 48 games, but none as a starter last year and hasn't been a full-time starter since 2017, when he was an All-Star with eight wins and 121 strikeouts before July that season.
He needed a platelet-rich plasma (PHP) injection after this past season, which is common and a very small procedure for MLB pitchers. He's expected to have a normal offseason, which Mozeliak says has already begun.
Mozeliak says Martinez has been in Jupiter, Fla. since last week going through evaluations and will start "more aggressive workouts" to build as a potential starter in 2020.
"I think we should have a pretty good idea if this is a real opportunity for us sometime in mid-January," Mozeliak said. "But right now all arrows point that this is a good path for him.
"He just feels good about where he's at and he really wants to get back into the rotation and show he can be that dominant starter he once was."