Players

Osvaldo Martinez joins the Sioux City Explorers this season with a long career behind him which includes two seasons at the major league level. The veteran infielder has spent each of the last three seasons in the American Association following a few years in the Atlantic League. Across five seasons in MLB Partner Leagues, he has hit .269 with a .695 OPS across 454 games.

Martinez spent last year with the Sioux Falls Canaries, playing in 71 games across the season. In total, the righty bat earned a .277 batting average to pair with a .352 on-base percentage. This included a stretch of games from July 29 to Aug. 17 where he batted .357 against teams like Milwaukee, Fargo-Moorhead and eventual champions Kansas City.

2022 was Martinez’s first year with the Canaries and throughout the season posted a .271 batting average with a .697 OPS over 86 games. Similar to 2023, he had a blazing hot start to August, recording six straight multi-hit games between July 30 and Aug. 6. By the end of the year, he had six homers and five steals as well.

The year before, Martinez played his first in the American Association by joining the Cleburne Railroaders. With Cleburne, the infielder crushed the ball, batting .315 with a .855 OPS and 14 homers. He also had a career-high 56 RBIs to pair with 81 runs scored.

Because of the pandemic in 2020, Martinez was restricted to playing only winter ball, playing in both the Caribbean Series and Puerto Rican Winter League between 2019 and 2021. In 2019, he played his final season in the Atlantic League. As a member of the New Britain Bees, Martinez batted .227 with a .591 OPS but still managed to score 52 runs.

In 2018, Martinez had his first season in an MLB Partner League, playing for the Road Warriors in the Atlantic League. He had a .256 batting average and a .654 OPS that year, playing in 105 games and launching seven home runs.

Martinez’s last season in affiliated ball came in 2017 as a part of the Chicago Cubs organization. That year, he split time between AA and AAA, playing in 61 total games. With AAA Iowa, the righty hit .222, garnering 32 hits including two doubles and a dinger. He was moved to AA Tennessee in August where he played much better, working a .292 average with a .771 OPS over 51 plate appearances.

Prior to joining the Cubs system, Martinez was with the Orioles organization. In 2016, he played the entire year with AAA Norfolk, batting .236 with a .271 on-base percentage, scoring 26 runs with 34 RBIs. While he struggled in some months, that certainly wasn’t the case between June and July where he had a .336 batting average and .837 OPS over 27 games between June 19 and July 24. Later in the season he also had a four-hit game against the Charlotte Knights which saw him rip a homer and notch four RBIs.

2015 saw Martinez play his first year in Baltimore’s organization, appearing in 122 games. He worked a .252 batting average and a .310 on-base percentage in his age 27 season, stealing nine bases and scoring 48 runs as well. Early in the season against the Richmond Flying Squirrels, he had back-to-back games where he went a combined 7-8 from the plate with two RBIs and a home run while batting .349 between May 10 and May 30.

In 2014, the then-26-year-old split the season between the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers organizations after being traded in mid-May. He started the year with AA Chattanooga as a part of LA’s system, playing in 33 games with 10 runs and 11 RBIs. On May 18 he was traded to Atlanta where he would play 78 games for AAA Gwinnett, posting a strong .288 batting average and .340 on-base percentage. He scored 26 runs while knocking in 22 RBIs with 11 doubles and two triples.

His only full season with the Dodgers organization was in 2013 when he split time between AAA and AA. He started the year in AAA Albuquerque, posting a .348 on-base percentage and .732 OPS over 12 games while grabbing five runs and four RBIs. He was moved to AA Chattanooga after that and throughout the season, he had a .249 average and .647 OPS. He also had four homers while scoring 20 times with 19 RBIs.

2012 was Martinez’s first professional season outside of the Marlins organization, playing for both the Chicago White Sox and Dodgers system. After being traded in September 2011 to the White Sox as part of the trade for former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, Martinez was assigned to play for AAA Charlotte. Over 60 games for the Knights, he had 13 RBIs and 15 runs while recording 38 hits and 11 doubles. In July, Martinez was sent to the LA organization for cash considerations where he was assigned to AAA Albuquerque. With the Isotopes, he batted .255 with a .296 on-base percentage across 39 games.

Martinez last played in the majors in 2011 when he would split the season between the Florida Marlins and AAA New Orleans. He switched between the two several times throughout the season and in total, played in 20 games for the MLB squad. In his time that year, he batted .130 with three hits and an RBI. He got most of his game experience that season playing in AAA, working 371 plate appearances for the Zephyrs and batting .245 with a .296 on-base percentage.

In 2010, Martinez made his major league debut with the Marlins as a September call-up from AA Jacksonville. He finished the season in the MLB playing 14 games and scoring eight runs while batting .326 with an .848 OPS. He recorded four doubles and a triple while getting on base at a .383 clip. Before his call-up, Martinez played strong baseball for AA Jacksonville, hitting .302 with a .773 OPS over 130 games. The season included multiple hot streaks including between July 5 and Aug. 9 where he hit .385 with a .998 OPS and between April 15 and May 18 where he hit .399 with a .974 OPS.

Prior to his major league fast track, Martinez played for High-A Jupiter in 2009, posting a .254 batting average and .644 OPS with 54 runs and 45 RBIs. He also had an impressive 16 stolen bases through the 130 games while notching 22 extra-base hits. In 2008, he played for Class-A Greensboro, batting .296 with a .743 OPS. He was able to knock six home runs with 29 RBIs and 44 runs while playing in 85 games.

2007 was Martinez’s first year of full-season baseball, spending most of his season with Low-A Jamestown and earning eight runs with five doubles and six RBIs across 38 games while swiping eight bases. He also played one game with High-A Jupiter that year, taking a walk in his only plate appearance.

Martinez’s first season of professional baseball was in 2006 as an 18-year-old. He played in 49 games for the Marlins rookie-ball team, picking up 21 RBIs and 21 runs while batting .263 with a .335 on-base percentage. The infielder comes from Carolina, Puerto Rico and is entering his 19th season of pro ball.