When Hall of Fame righthander Pedro Martinez was baffling hitters during an era dominated by offense, it left Red Sox fans wondering how he was able to do that. Here’s a look at some of his secrets.

Pedro’s pitches

Fastball

MARTINEZ IN HIS prime had a mid-90s four-seam fastball with a tailing action on it. He threw from a three-quarter arm slot position that made the pitch more difficult for the batter to pick up. His velocity decreased in the final stages of his career, but Martinez slowed his changeup to maintain the disparity.

Changeup

MARTINEZ’S CHANGEUP was one of the best pitches of all time. He threw the pitch with the same arm speed and arm slot as his fastball and it broke down and away from lefthanded hitters. The ball would drop 8-10 inches and end up closer to the ground than the strike zone.

Curveball

MARTINEZ THREW A hard curveball, a breaking pitch with a tight spin. It did not have the looping action of a traditional curveball, it instead bore into the strike zone. Because hitters had to be so cognizant of his fastball and changeup, the curveball was a pitch often taken for a third strike.

Learning the changeup

Unlocking the secret GUY CONTI is the coach Martinez credits with teaching him his devastating changeup in 1990 with the Dodgers organization. His thumb and forefinger came together in a circle-change grip, with the other three fingers guiding the ball. Conti learned the grip from Johnny Podres, an All-Star with the Dodgers. “Flexibility helped me there,” Martinez said. “It was a perfect pitch for me.”

“The ball moved like a Frisbee. You had no chance. Pedro took to it right away.” Guy Conti on teaching Martinez the changeup

By the numbers

Strikeouts by appearance

MARTINEZ BECAME a more complete pitcher as his career evolved, changing from a two-pitch reliever with the Dodgers to top-of-the-rotation starter with the Expos before being traded to Boston. A look at strikeout totals in all 476 career appearances.

Hover over each bar for game information

Double-digit strikeout totals are in red

Victories are denoted by a black dot

Dodgers, 1992-93 Expos, 1994-97 Red Sox, 1998-2004 Mets, 2005-08 Phillies, 2009

300-K pitchers by size

SINCE WORLD WAR II, there have only been 12 pitchers to record 300 strikeouts in a season — Martinez is the shortest and most lightweight.

Randy Johnson 6-10 225 pounds J.R. Richard 6-8 222 Sam McDowell 6-5 190 Curt Schilling 6-4 215 Steve Carlton 6-4 210 Nolan Ryan 6-2 195 Sandy Koufax 6-2 210 Mike Scott 6-2 210 Mickey Lolich 6-1 210 Bob Feller 6-0 185 Vida Blue 6-0 189 Pedro Martinez 5-11 180

Classic performance

17 strikeouts PERHAPS THE GREATEST performance of Martinez’s career came on Sept. 10, 1999, on the grand stage of Yankee Stadium. He struck out 17, and retired 22 straight batters at one point, to lead the Red Sox to a 3-1 victory.

Reached base Reached base Outfield out Outfield out Infield out Infield out Strikeout looking Strikeout looking Strikeout swinging Strikeout swinging

First inning

Chuck Knoblauch Pitches: ●● HBP, CS Derek Jeter ●●●●●●● K Paul O’Neill ●● Groundout 1B Second inning Bernie Williams ●●●●● K Tino Martinez ●●●●●● Flyout CF Chili Davis ●●● HR Ricky Ledee ●●●●●● K Third inning Scott Brosius ●●●● K Joe Girardi ●●● K Chuck Knoblauch ●● Popout 3B Fourth inning Derek Jeter ●● Flyout RF Paul O’Neill ●● Groundout 1B Bernie Williams ●●●●●● Groundout 3B Fifth inning Tino Martinez ●●● K Chili Davis ●●●●●●●●● K Ricky Ledee ●●●● K Sixth inning Scott Brosius ● Lineout LF Joe Girardi ●●●●●● K Chuck Knoblauch ●●●●● Foulout 1B Seventh inning Derek Jeter ●●●●●●●●● K Paul O’Neill ●●●●●● K Bernie Williams ●●● K Eighth inning Tino Martinez ●●● Foulout 1B Chili Davis ●●●● K Ricky Ledee ●●●● K Ninth inning Scott Brosius ●●●● K Darryl Strawberry ●●●● K Chuck Knoblauch ●●●●● K

Win expectancy for Red Sox during the game