Brain surgery hasn’t kept LO ace from dominating on the hill
MORGAN HILL — Rich Martinez knew what he was getting into when baseball season began. He knew he was going to be the go-to pitcher at Live Oak High School, the guy who’s expected to carry his young team back to the playoffs after the Acorns missed out for the first time in 17 seasons a year ago, and Martinez knew every Mount Hamilton Division batter he faced would have that in mind.
No surprises this time around.
“He’s one of the best pitchers in the league,” LOHS outfielder Ryan Muir said during the second week of the season. “We expect to win every game Richie starts.”
Martinez, 17, doesn’t back down from challenges or pressure to perform. His body wasn’t made for it.
Aside from his mid-80s fastball and deceptive changeup, the spindly juniors’ greatest strength is his ability to stay calm in extreme circumstances. That helped Martinez get through a life-altering experience in October, when doctors discovered a large cyst on is brain.
Martinez, then a starting defensive back, had been getting headaches after football games. The pain was extreme following an Oct. 23 matchup against Piedmont Hills, and Martinez checked into the emergency room at Santa Teresa Hospital in San Jose with his mother, Maria.
“Our family has a history of migraines, but this was much worse,” Martinez’s father, Rich Martinez Jr., said. “Doctors said some bleeding was going on. My heart just sank when I heard. We didn’t know what to think.”
Martinez was taken to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, where a CT scan revealed the cyst — about the size of a lemon — on Martinez’s brain. He went in for surgery two days later.
“I remember everyone else being scared for me, but I was pretty relaxed,” he said. “I trusted my doctors my like my teammates. I knew they were going to do the right thing and everything was going to be fine.”
Martinez was released after nine days only to be sent back about a month later when symptoms returned. Fluid from his brain was not draining properly, so doctors fixed a permanent shunt inside him. Physical pain subsided eventually, though Martinez was still deeply affected by the possibility of never playing sports again.
“Doctors wanted us to take him to counseling,” his father said. “He’s played sports his whole life, sometimes 85 baseball games in a year, and a part of his brain was missing, and it wasn’t going to come back. I was scared for him. As parents, we just want him have a normal life.”
After being told he could have “died on the field,” Martinez hung up his football cleats. He stood on the sideline for Live Oak’s remaining games, watching the Acorns win two of their final four Mount Hamilton contests to reach the Central Coast Section playoffs.
“Every game, someone would say, ‘We got to win this one for Rich,” Live Oak’s starting tight end and catcher Cody Van Aken said. “We thought about him every game, how hard things must have been for him.”
Martinez was not ready to give up on baseball, his first love. Against doctors’ recommendations, he sought the approval of LOHS manager Mark Cummins, principal Nick Bodin and the Morgan Hill Unified School District board to let him play while wearing a special helmet à la former major leaguer John Olerud. Upon hearing he was cleared, Martinez began practicing his delivery right away, his father said.
“Everybody was thrilled,” Cummins said. “The biggest concern was his health, of course. Once we got over that hump, we looked forward to possibly having him back.
“Richie has been an inspiration for this team.”
Martinez struggled early in the season, hampered by weight loss, but looked better than ever in his past few starts, including a complete-game 7-5 win against Branham on Monday that brought the sixth-place Acorns (13-11 overall, 8-10 league) within a victory of securing playoff eligibility with three division contests left (Live Oak will visit Westmont today). The 6-foot righty pitched a 1-2-3 final inning after Branham scattered three consecutive runs across the fifth and sixth.
“He’s one of the main reasons why we’ve gotten this far, definitely,” Van Aken said. “His command is great; he always hits his spots and doesn’t get rattled. Richie can strike you out with any pitch.”
Martinez (4-4) has lowered his ERA to 3.56 and is ranked second in the Mount Hamilton with 50 strikeouts, according to MaxPreps. He showed he can pitch at the college level at an Under Armour scouting event in April and was selected to try out for the North-South Series, a state showcase for high school talent.
If Live Oak makes the Division III playoffs, Cummins will go with Martinez to start in the first round.
“It’s exciting to be a part of this right now. Everybody’s playing awesome,” Martinez said. “Baseball is my biggest motivation in life. I’m lucky to even be playing. I’m going to treat every game like it’s a gift.”
