Rockies Designate Chris Martin For Assignment

The Rockies have designated righty Chris Martin for assignment, the club announced. His departure from the 40-man will open roster space for Nick Hundley, whose signing was announced today.

Martin, a towering 28-year-old, reached the big leagues with Colorado despite not pitching in the minors until age 25. He had signed with the Red Sox after a successful independent ball stint, and came to the Rockies in last winter’s Jonathan Herrera trade.

Though Martin did not put up an impressive ERA (6.89) in his 15 2/3 innings of MLB work, ERA estimators were much more impressed with Martin’s ability to generate grounders (60.8%) and strike out big league hitters (8.0 per nine). And his work at Triple-A with Colorado was rather promising, as he struck out 12.2 and walked 3.0 batters per nine over 26 2/3 frames. While Martin posted only a 4.39 ERA, he was pitching at a hitter-friendly park and in a hitter-friendly league.