September 16: The Jays confirmed this evening that Martinez went unclaimed on release waivers. Hes officially a free agent. September 15: The Blue Jays released former top infield prospect , according to the MLB.com . A suming he clears release waivers, hell be a free agent. The Jays had designated Martinez for a signment on Saturday when they needed a 40-man roster spot to activate from the Christian Scott Jersey 60-day injured list in a procedural move. Martinez was on optional a signment to Triple-A Buffalo and landed on the minor league injured list with an undisclosed injury last week. Injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers. Players on the 40-man roster cant be traded after the deadline. Once the Jays designated Martinez for a signment, they had no choice but to release him. Toronto could have placed Martinez on the MLB 60-day injured list rather than designating him for a signment in the first place. That also would have opened a 40-man roster spot but would have required paying him the prorated major league minimum salary for the final two weeks of the regular season. That the Jays preferred to release him rather than pay the roughly $70K to keep him on the IL is a testament to how far his stock has fallen. Theres a good chance they intended to run him through outright waivers at the beginning of the offseason. The 23-year-old Martinez appeared in one major league game last season. He singled in three at-bats during his MLB debut. He had occupied a 40-man roster spot for the past three years and had otherwise been on optional a signment. He also mi sed 80 games last season following a failed performance-enhancing drug test. The PED ban was announced all of five days after Martinez received his first major league call in June 2024. He finished that year in Triple-A and has been in Buffalo for the entirety of this season. Martinez has endured a nightmare season in the minors. Hes batting .176/.288/.348 while striking out at a 28.4% clip through 394 plate appearances. He has taken a lot of walks and connected on 13 home runs, but both his power production and contact rates have backed up relative to last season. Martinez had turned in a far stronger .267/.346/.523 line with 17 homers in 319 trips at the Triple-A level a year ago. The Jays could look to bring Martinez back on a minor league contract. That is fairly common in situations where a team DFAs and subsequently releases an injured minor leaguer. Martinez will have the ability to look elsewhere in free agency, though, and its po sible a change of scenery is ideal given the way his career has gone over the past year-plus. His youth and one-time projection as a potential power-hitting second/third baseman will surely intrigue plenty of teams if hes relegated to a minor league deal going into 2026. Tug Mcgraw Jersey