Nick Martinez named Rangers’ fifth starter

The Texas Rangers have named Nick Martinez as their fifth starter to open the season.

The Texas Rangers have named Nick Martinez as their fifth starter to open the season, Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News reports.

Martinez, 24, pitched 10.2 innings during spring training, allowing just a single earned run on 10 hits while striking out nine. His latest outing likely went a long ways towards earning the final rotation spot, as Martinez shut out the Colorado Rockies over six innings of work.

Last season, Martinez appeared in 29 games and made 24 starts for the Rangers. He finished with a 5-12 record, a 4.55 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 140.1 innings.

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Martinez beat out Nick Tepesch, Lisalverto Bonilla, Anthony Ranaudo, and Alex Gonzalez for the final spot in the rotation. Rangers first-year manager Jeff Banister explained why Martinez got the nod.

“What we saw from Nick this spring is much the same that we had talked about,” Banister said. “We saw pitchability. We saw fastball command and command of his secondary stuff. And we saw good athleticism.”

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Texas will start the season with a starting rotation of Yovani Gallardo, Colby Lewis, Ross Detwiler, and Derek Holland. Ace Yu Darvish underwent Tomy John surgery earlier this month and will miss the entire season.

The Rangers open the season on April 6 against the Oakland Athletics.

- Aaron Somers