Justin Martinez is blowing on his hand again

PHOENIX — Earlier this week, Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Justin Martinez joked that he’ll feel 100% back to normal once he strikes out the side. Perhaps that day, he laughed, he’d break out his wrestling-like strikeout celebration, when he blows on his hand.

The return of his version of a hitter’s bat flip came quicker than that.

Martinez struck out Chicago Cubs hitter Michael Conforto looking at a splitter that just nicked the outside edge of the strike zone to get through the ninth inning on Tuesday. He blew on his hand on his way back to the dugout after his third scoreless inning since returning from Tommy John surgery.

“Finally.”

Martinez said he has felt like a rookie again in certain ways.

The fire-throwing reliever certainly does not walk around with the shyness of a new guy, even starting a habit of switching hats with D. Baxter the Bobcat before games.

But after missing nearly 14 months, Martinez is still getting his feet underneath him, finding the right feel and routine to succeed at the major league level again.

Martinez did not feel like he had the full command of his artillery back quite yet, but the 25-year-old thought he is getting closer.

“First one in Boston, it wasn’t like how I was expecting. But it could have been worse,” Martinez told Arizona Sports on Monday. “It could have been better. But in the next one, when I got here, it felt more normal. I feel that when I get to throw more, I’ll be feeling the same as last year.

“I feel that I’m getting there, I’ve been working on it and I feel like I’m close to being that guy.”

It is normal for command to be the final box that gets checked when a pitcher comes back from a long-term injury.

Martinez’s velocity is back up to his typical triple digits, and he surpassed 102 mph multiple times on Tuesday, which was the highest leverage situation Arizona has thrown him in.

The D-backs were down 4-0 in the eighth inning when he started to warm up, but they jolted to life to cut the Cubs’ lead to 4-3. Manager Torey Lovullo got Juan Morillo warming up during the rally, but he entrusted Martinez to take a step up in leverage to preserve the one-run deficit.

He did his job (with no walks), and Ryan Waldschmidt hit a walk-off home run in the bottom half.

“We were trying to let J-Mart ease into this, but I didn’t mind him coming into a one-down game,” Lovullo said. “I thought it was a perfect jump from where he had been. It’s now, can we put him in an up game? Is he going to be a high leverage guy? Those are the next steps. And then we’ve got to get him back-to-back. We can’t yet throw him back-to-back. But I want to show him that we believe in him, and he’s ready to take those next steps.”

The Diamondbacks are going to need him, as the starting rotation’s injuries have put more of the onus on the bullpen to provide stability, and it largely has.

Arizona does not have a set closer, and pitchers have had to work with fluid roles since Paul Sewald was taken out of that spot last month.

Justin Martinez has come back from Tommy John surgery before

Martinez had an electric rookie season in 2024, breaking into a high-leverage role for the Diamondbacks at 23 years old. He secured a contract extension in the following spring training.

For a player who signed with the organization as a 16-year-old kid out of the Dominican Republic, it was a real “I’ve made it” kind of moment. The ensuing season, however, was a grind that led to his surgery, a crushing blow to a team that used a major league-record 17 pitchers to save games.

That feeling of uselessness while the team fell just short of the postseason hurt him, and being back in the mix has been a joy.

Martinez brings a playful, energetic presence to the clubhouse and bullpen, but he maintains a high standard for himself, which applied to his recovery process.

“He continues to be extremely accountable,” Lovullo said.

Lovullo harkened back to Martinez’s self evaluation during rehab.

In his first appearance for Single-A Visalia on Aug. 4, Martinez threw a 1-2-3 inning but did not feel his control was where it needed to be. That got better as he continued his progression, and Martinez’s first three major league outings paralleled that experience.

“He said, ‘Remember we talked in Visalia? I felt the same way in Boston,'” Lovullo said. “‘My next outing will be better,’ and I think it was. That should tell you who you’re dealing with, and it’s not gonna be perfect, but he said four or five outings from now, it will be. I trust that it will be. I couldn’t be more pleased with where he’s at.”

This is not Martinez’s first time having to come back from Tommy John surgery.

He underwent the procedure in 2021 as a minor leaguer, so that experience helped him stay patient through the itch to pitch with a long-term vision in mind.

“Way different,” Martinez said of the experience. “Because this one took a little longer, and I got more time to prepare myself to compete. And now we’re here.

“I was a little frustrated because I wanted to come back as soon as possible. But I understood that I had to be smart on this one because this is my second one. There’s no way I could have another one, you know? So I had to be really smart about it.”

The list of pitchers who have come back successfully from Tommy John surgery has grown over the past 15 years or so. There is an increasing number of pitchers who have had it twice and come out on the other side in a decent spot. Three times? That’s a pretty short list.

“That kind of kept me more focused on the process,” Martinez said.

The Diamondbacks went into this season expecting to get reliever A.J. Puk, staff ace Corbin Burnes and Martinez back from the IL, in that order. After the first two suffered setbacks, seeing Martinez back on the field and contributing must feel like a relief and a win for an organization that needed one.

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