Nick Martinez News: Headed to bullpen

President of baseball operations Nick Krall said Wednesday that Martinez will move to the bullpen after the Reds acquired Zack Littell from the Rays earlier in the day, Charlie Goldsmith of Fox 19 Now Cincinnati reports.

The Reds aren't yet ready to remove prized rookie Chase Burns from the rotation, and the addition of Littell plus the pending return of Hunter Greene (groin) from the injured list at some point in August left Martinez on the outside looking in for a starting role. Aside from a disastrous outing July 8 against Miami in which he allowed 10 earned runs, Martinez had covered at least five innings while giving up no more than four runs in any of his last seven starts. The right-hander has ample experience working out of the bullpen, and he should be able to improve upon his 11.9 percent strikeout rate -- down more than five percentage points from 2024 -- as he transitions to relief. Martinez will likely handle a versatile role out of the bullpen that includes both multi-inning mop-up duty and higher-leverage late-inning work in front of closer Emilio Pagan.