Davis Martin is seventh among qualified American League pitchers in ERA, second in the AL in Baseball-Reference.com's wins above replacement, tied for second in pitching wins, and the best starting pitcher on a surprising first-place team.
Perhaps none of those measures fully sum up the sense that he should be in Philadelphia next week, but he feels it all the same.
"I think anybody would be lying if they said they weren't upset, or-- I think upset is the best way to put it," Martin said. "I gave myself a day to be upset about it, and now it's just, 'All right, what can we do next?' And obviously we have another opportunity [Wednesday] to throw."
"It’s disappointing, as well as our team has performed to just have one guy," said manager Will Venable.
It's a cliché he espouses, but Martin really does try to live locked within his five-day schedule during the season. It's almost eerie how he's also striding up to his locker at the same part of the afternoon, in the same stage of his preparation every day. So it's believable when he's preparing for the Red Sox lineup rather than keeping an ear out for any last-minute All-Star roster changes, and is just planning to spend his break at home in Oklahoma, and go fishing with his son, Doak.
That said, Martin is scheduled to pitch Wednesday night, and would be at five days' rest when next Tuesday's Midsummer Classic rolls around. If availability is an issue for another pitcher on the AL roster, like Cam Schlittler being on schedule to pitch on Sunday or Ranger Suarez leaving his last start with adductor soreness, it wouldn't be for Martin.
"I'd be more than ready to go," Martin said. "If they called and said they needed a reserve, I'd be absolutely ready to do it. It'd be a great opportunity. But I'm not holding my breath. It's whatever is front of that I can control, and that's getting ready for Boston."
Martin is quick to point out that Colson Montgomery and Tristan Peters would be deserving candidates to join Miguel Vargas in Philadelphia, and with the Sox limited to one representative from a host of potential first-time All-Stars, it's clear a lack of national notoriety was working against them to some respect. But Martin's case went from slam-dunk to more borderline over the course of his last six starts, where he's posted a 5.65 ERA and dealt with uncharacteristic control issues, walking 15 in 28⅔ innings over that span.
His best outing during this stretch saw him blank the Braves for six innings on seven days' rest and express gratitude for the extra break, and his worst saw him walk five and strike out none in Cleveland last week, with an average four-seam velocity down 1.2 mph from his final start of May.
Every active player in MLB is looking to the All-Star break as an opportunity to refresh physically, and Martin certainly doesn't seem like the exception. But he also doesn't think that's the central issue.
"You could say it's the workload because last year I missed four starts right around the All-Star break, so you could say we're in uncharted territory, but my body feels fine," Martin said. "I feel like I'm in a really good spot right now and I don't have to do too much during the break. There's no overhauls to be doing, there's no pitch design to be doing. Basically just take a breather and enjoy my family."
His six-pitch attack doesn't really allow for it, but Martin doesn't think he's seen some big adjustment from the league in approach against him in light of his success -- "I haven't noticed it, so I'm not going to try to make sense of it" -- so speaking like someone who had Richard Dotson as minor league pitching coach, he feels he just needs to be in the zone more. After a few of his recent outings, Martin has complained of missing side-to-side too often, and thinks it's a manageable mechanical fix.
"When your foot lands and your arm is not in a good spot, if you're late you're gonna push and if you're early you're gonna yank, so it's just finding that balance point and finding that set position where you feel like you can gather and drive," Martin said. "We're going to have some of those things pop up, we're going to have outings where stuff just doesn't go right and balls don't go at people. The fact that we're able to put up zeroes when we don't feel great and the stuff might not be as sharp as you want it that day is a testament to where we're at this year."
Where the White Sox are at, still hanging on to first place in the AL Central, is a testament to their players' capacity to get better, beyond what public expectations were at several junctures of their career. It's hard to beat how well Vargas represents that concept, even if it doesn't seem like he should be the only one doing it in Philadelphia next week.
"You could choose any single one of us, and I think resiliency is going to be somewhere in that equation," Martin said. "Colson being sent back to Arizona, Tristan Peters, obviously bouncing around, and me, my story. Vargas, the fact that you come over from a really, really good team to a really, really bad team, and know nobody and struggling, and not having fun. And to be able to kind of piece it together last year, but then this year really feel like he took ownership of this is who I am, this is who I want to be, and obviously the work he's put in on defense and offense, he's just been an incredible player."
And for the White Sox to sustain their positive momentum, they'll need an incredible second half from Martin. So that will occupy his focus for now, even if he would line up well for any needs the AL All-Star team might develop.
