St. Louis Cardinals: Carlos Martinez is this generation's Bob Gibson

Teams are known for stellar players. The St. Louis Cardinals have had greats like Pujols and Gibson and this generation’s stellar player may be toeing the mound today in the way of Carlos Martinez.

Have you watched the great Carlos Martinez pitch? If you haven’t had the chance to see this in person, you are truly missing out. The St. Louis Cardinals have one of the best pitchers to toe the mound in Martinez but how does he compare to one of the greatest Cardinals arms, Bob Gibson?

Gibson, for those who don’t know or need a refresher, was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent in 1957. He made his MLB debut just two years late in 1959 against the Los Angeles Dodger. In his debut he pitched only two innings surrendering two hits and two earned runs.

Cardinals fans remember brighter days and brighter statistics for Bob Gibson outside of this weak start. Gibson is best known as a seven-time all-star, two-time Cy Young winner, MVP, and hall of fame inductee. In addition to these accolades, Gibson is known for his terrifying mound presence exemplified in his statistics.

Let’s have a look at the career of Bob Gibson:

Year	Age	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	BF	FIP	WHIP	Awards
1959	23	3	5	.375	3.33	13	9	2	1	75.2	77	28	4	39	48	333	3.55	1.533
1960	24	3	6	.333	5.61	27	12	2	0	86.2	97	54	7	48	69	399	3.68	1.673
1961	25	13	12	.520	3.24	35	27	10	2	211.1	186	76	13	119	166	916	3.58	1.443
1962 ★	26	15	13	.536	2.85	32	30	15	5	233.2	174	74	15	95	208	967	3.02	1.151	AS
1963	27	18	9	.667	3.39	36	33	14	2	254.2	224	96	19	96	204	1088	3.13	1.257
1964	28	19	12	.613	3.01	40	36	17	2	287.1	250	96	25	86	245	1191	3.02	1.169	MVP-23
1965 ★	29	20	12	.625	3.07	38	36	20	6	299.0	243	102	34	103	270	1233	3.33	1.157	AS,GG
1966 ★	30	21	12	.636	2.44	35	35	20	5	280.1	210	76	20	78	225	1119	2.76	1.027	AS,GG
1967 ★	31	13	7	.650	2.98	24	24	10	2	175.1	151	58	10	40	147	703	2.34	1.089	AS,MVP-22,GG
1968 ★	32	22	9	.710	*1.12*	34	34	28	13	304.2	198	38	11	62	268	1161	*1.77*	0.853	AS,CYA-1,MVP-1,GG
1969 ★	33	20	13	.606	2.18	35	35	28	4	314.0	251	76	12	95	269	1270	2.30	1.102	AS,MVP-30,GG
1970 ★	34	23	7	.767	3.12	34	34	23	3	294.0	262	102	13	88	274	1213	*2.29*	1.190	AS,CYA-1,MVP-4,GG
1971	35	16	13	.552	3.04	31	31	20	5	245.2	215	83	14	76	185	1026	2.70	1.185	CYA-5,MVP-23,GG
1972 ★	36	19	11	.633	2.46	34	34	23	4	278.0	226	76	14	88	208	1119	2.54	1.129	AS,CYA-9,GG
1973	37	12	10	.545	2.77	25	25	13	1	195.0	159	60	12	57	142	790	2.83	1.108	GG
1974	38	11	13	.458	3.83	33	33	9	1	240.0	236	102	24	104	129	1041	4.17	1.417
1975	39	3	10	.231	5.04	22	14	1	0	109.0	120	61	10	62	60	499	4.50	1.670
17 Yrs	251	174	.591	2.91	528	482	255	56	3884.1	3279	1258	257	1336	3117	16068	2.89	1.188
162 Game Avg.	17	12	.591	2.91	36	32	17	4	262	221	85	17	90	210	1082	2.89	1.188
	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	BF	FIP	WHIP	Awards

Amazing, right? Wouldn’t we all kill to have a pitcher with a career 2.91 ERA on the squad today? Teams would quake to face a pitcher with a career 210 Ks/162-game average. The St. Louis Cardinals rotation would dominate with a pitcher owning a .591 W-L%.

Is there anyone who holds even the slightest candle to this bright spot in Cardinals history? I firmly believe that Carlos Martinez is this arm. While Martinez’s career has years left to match the number of Gibson, I believe we are seeing flashes of similarity that indicate that Martinez is on the same path.

Let’s examine…

Year	Age	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	SHO	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	BF	FIP	WHIP	Awards
2013	21	2	1	.667	5.08	21	1	0	28.1	31	16	1	9	24	124	3.08	1.412
2014	22	2	4	.333	4.03	57	7	0	89.1	90	40	4	36	84	386	3.18	1.410
2015 ★	23	14	7	.667	3.01	31	29	0	179.2	168	60	13	63	184	755	3.21	1.286	AS
2016	24	16	9	.640	3.04	31	31	0	195.1	169	66	15	70	174	809	3.61	1.224
4 Yrs	34	21	.618	3.32	140	68	0	492.2	458	182	33	178	466	2074	3.35	1.291
162 Game Avg.	11	7	.618	3.32	46	22	0	161	150	60	11	58	152	678	3.35	1.291

See the similarities? Let’s look year by year for an even deeper look at the comparison.

At 23, Martinez was an all-star who appeared in 179.2 innings. At 23, Gibson appeared in only 75.2 innings. To make the comparison fair, then, let us jump to Gibson’s age-25 season in which he pitched in 211.1 innings. Martinez approached this number in 2016 when he pitched in 195.1.

Gibson’s 211.1 innings allowed him to post an ERA of 3.24. Martinez posted an ERA of 3.01 at 23 years old in 179.2 innings and an ERA of 3.04 in his 2016 season of 195.1 innings. Martinez’s best ERA season came in 2015 when he posted the 3.01 while Gibson’s best came in 1968 when he was thirty-two years old. In this season, Gibson posted an outstanding 1.12 ERA across 304.2 innings.

Yes, you read that correctly– 304.2 innings posting a 1.12 ERA. Let’s take a moment to revel in that splendor.

Martinez, to his credit, has amassed 466 strikeouts in his four MLB season. By his forth season, Gibson- who started slower than did Martinez- had amassed 491 strikeouts. Martinez’s 466 Ks came against 2,074 batters faced while Gibson’s eclipsing number was achieved while facing 2,615 batters.

While the above numbers illustrate the strikeout dominance that was Bob Gibson, they likewise illuminate the close proximity of similarity held by the young Martinez.

The 162-game average stat is intended to equalize players for comparison sake. If we play with these numbers then, we can see the striking similarity (albeit dominance by Gibson) that these two players share. Gibson, by the these numbers, would be immediately slotted as the number one starter in the St. Louis Cardinals rotation followed very closely by Martinez at the number two slot.

Gibson, using the 162-game-average stat, would pitch in approximately 262 innings while Martinez would pitch in only 161. In these innings, it is estimated that Gibson would surrender eighty-five earned runs to Martinez’s sixty. Gibson is predicted to record 210 strikeouts to Martinez’s 152. Gibson’s ERA would settle at 2.91 while Martinez would record an ERA of 3.32.

All of these numbers, and all of the charted numbers above, suggest- to me at least- that Martinez could well be the reincarnation of the younger Bob Gibson. While it is difficult to directly comparing these two thanks in large part to the changes to the game in regard to batting (read: better batters, better digital assistance for batters facing pitchers, the change in batter training and performance enhancers (legal and illegal)), Martinez is showing similar pitching adroitness.

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Bob Gibson spent his entire career wearing the birds on the bat and it is my wish that Carlos Martinez will do the same. Hear me, Mozeliak, you must extend Martinez and ensure that this budding Gibson has the time and support to become another stalwart of the Cardinals Way.