On Wednesday, it was revealed that former Texas Rangers reliever Chris Martin will be retiring from Major League Baseball after pitching 11 seasons in the big leagues.

Martin is a DFW native as he graduated from Arlington High School before going to McLennan Community College.

In 2005, Martin was drafted in the 21st round before pitching parts of two seasons in MLB in 2014 and 2015.

Following the 2015 season, Martin spent two years in Japan, which would set him up to land a contract with the Rangers.

In 2018, Martin appeared in 46 games for Texas, posting a 4.54 ERA in 41.2 innings, by far the most he’d pitched in MLB.

Back for his second season in 2019, Martin pitched in 38 games for the Rangers, putting up a solid 3.08 ERA.

Martin’s strong performance in the first half of the season led to him being valuable enough for Texas to flip at the Trade Deadline.

The Rangers sent Martin to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for left-handed pitching prospect Kolby Allard.

In 2021, Martin was a part of the Braves team that won the World Series as he pitched in 26 games that season.

Following back-to-back solid seasons in 2023 and 2024, Martin re-joined the Rangers in free agency ahead of 2025.

It was reported that Martin turned down several bigger contract offers to come back to Texas and spend his final seasons with his hometown team.

Martin pitched in 49 games during the 2025 season, posting a solid 2.98 ERA despite battles with injury.

In 2026, Martin was limited to just 16 games due to injuries, which eventually led to his retirement.

During those 16 games, Martin struggled, posting an ERA of 9.00 in what turned out to be his final season.

Overall, Martin was never a guy considered to be one of baseball’s best relievers but looking back, it’s not hard to see the fact that he finished with a very solid MLB career.

From a Rangers perspective, Martin will go down as one of the Metroplex’s own to have played multiple seasons for the team.

There were certainly opportunities for Martin to be the Texas closer even in his final years, but those never ended up materializing.

During his prime, Martin went seven straight seasons without having an ERA that finished above 4.00. That streak ended in 2026 during his final year.