2023 Padres Season Review: Nick Martinez and Tim Hill

2023 Regular Season Statistics

Nick Martinez: 1.4 fWAR, 63 G (9 starts), 110.1 IP, 3.43 ERA, 1.260 WHIP, 106 K, 40 BB, 12 HR, 3 HBP

Tim Hill: -0.4 fWAR, 48 G, 44.1 IP, 5.48 ERA, 1.647 WHIP, 106 K, 14 BB, 7 HR, 6 HBP

Positives From This Season

Martinez pitched in more games than he did last season and once again was one of the more noticeable team players on the roster. Whatever Bob Melvin asked of him, he did. Need him to make starts at the end of the year due to injuries in the rotation? No problem. Need him to pitch in high leverage situations? He did that too.

The team first mentality was there from the very beginning—even before the season started. Martinez started one of Team USA’s games in the World Baseball Classic but then headed back to Peoria for spring training once Team USA told him he wasn’t going to be starting so that he could continue to get built up for the beginning of the 2023 regular season in case the Padres needed him to be in the rotation (which they did). Martinez posted sub 1.60 ERAs in May and September (36 IP).

Hill was the Padres Roberto Clemente award nominee this season so props to him on being a great human. On the field, Hill pitched much better at home than he did on the road, as he posted a 1.48 ERA in home games.

Negatives From This Season

On the road, Hill had an ERA north of 10 and had nine appearances where he allowed two or more earned runs. The former Kansas City Royal also gave up more home runs than in most of the years he’s pitched in the big leagues.

The Padres didn’t have many lefties in their ‘pen and he also has that unique delivery so the organization could still want him to continue to be on the roster in 2024, which is his final year of arbitration.

Martinez struggled a little bit in June (8.10 ERA) and July (4.02 ERA), which came at a bad time in the Padres season because it seemed like some guys were getting tired and Robert Suarez hadn’t yet returned.

What happens this offseason with Martinez will be really interesting because he has 2024 and 2025 club options for $16 million that need to be picked up at the same time, which San Diego would probably only want to pick up if he’s going to be a starter and not mainly a reliever like he was this season.

If the club options don’t get picked up, he’d have the chance to take an $8 million player option for next season. He could also choose to go back into free agency but that comes with the risk of not getting as much money as he’s guaranteed to get with the Padres.