Atlanta Braves’ Cristhian Martinez arrested for drunk driving – MLB News
Atlanta Braves’ relief pitcher Cristhian Martinez has been fined for drunken driving on Monday after officers saw him driving reckless on the road. He was inhibiting traffic and was likely to cause a big accident if it was not for the officers to come forward
as they arrested him and charged him for DUI. His release occurred after he presented a $1600 bond.
Since he is not a native speaker, officers had trouble communicating with him and thus he remained short of investigating properly.
''The more I talked with the driver, the more I saw we were having a language barrier,'' he said. ''I was having to repeat myself several times before he would understand what I was asking and even then not picking up all I was saying.''
He is the second Braves’ pitcher this year that has been charged for DUI. At the start of regular season and being reported in such a case, Martinez seems to have let management down.
He is one of those players who have been withdrawn from camp early in order to give the team space for regular season preparations. But as it turned out, he was drunk, with blood alcohol level reaching .13 as opposed to a legal limit of .08. Martinez showed
sheer lack of responsibility.
Braves are keenly following the whole episode. According to a team official, a body of independent professionals will examine him thoroughly to check his fitness level.
His Spring Training figures are superb and more so in the light of a relatively ordinary performance coming off from other pitchers in the team. By dint of his performance, he timely cemented his place in the Braves’ bullpen, unlike most players who left
management dithering on a number of issues before coming up with a decision.
Since, the pitching has been the biggest worry for Braves in Spring Training; Martinez has to be spot on with everything. Rhythm he has attained in Training if not carried further in the season will affect Braves in many ways.
Any distraction may cause him losing focus and thus by the time he steps on the mound in the season, he may be faring as bad as any other player in the team.
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