When it comes to making those tough roster decisions in fantasy baseball, we are taught to look for red flags in our player scouting. One of the biggest, obviously, comes from injury history.

Wisely, we look at things like recurring blisters; shoulder problems; particularly in the labrum and rotator cuff; and, of course, elbow issues — which include forearm tightness, the ultimate precursor to a torn UCL and Tommy John surgery. But the one injury that doesn’t seem to get enough attention is the lat muscle.

Fantasy owners of Carlos Martinez are patiently waiting for the right-hander to return to form, but will they ever see him right the ship? Since coming off the disabled list, Martinez has made four starts and has failed to pitch past the fifth inning in any of them.

He is 0-2 in his return with a 8.10 ERA, and his command has been absolutely atrocious — 23 hits allowed and 20 walks issued over just 16 ²/₃ innings. There is no questioning Martinez’s overall talent, but he has not looked right since returning from the lat issue that landed him on the disabled list for nearly a month.

Whether you’re looking at a severe lat strain or a complete tear of the muscle, pitchers incurring such problems routinely struggle with their command, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find one who doesn’t.

Yankees right-hander Sonny Gray suffered a serious lat injury in 2016, struggled mightily in his attempt to come back later that year and had a number of hiccups throughout his 2017 season. His command of his four-seam fastball was off, so he attempted to incorporate a cutter more this season and the results have left us with a 4.89 ERA and far too many walks.

You can go back a little further and look at the demise of former All-Star Jake Peavy. He suffered a major lat injury in 2010 and was never the same again. He posted a couple of decent seasons before getting out of the game in 2016, but he never regained his old form and did more harm than good to fantasy owners who hoped for a rebound.

Tommy John and rotator cuff surgeries get all the attention, but serious lat injuries have done almost as much notable harm.

Those of you in dynasty and keeper leagues need to make a serious note of this if you’re stashing Cardinals hurler Alex Reyes. His overall skill-set is fantastic, but what will the command look like following surgery to repair a torn tendon in that area? If he follows in the footsteps of his predecessors, he could be in trouble.

Howard Bender is the VP of operations and head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on Twitter @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 4-6 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy sports advice, MLB lineups and DFS weather updates.