HOUSTON – Nova Southeastern alumnus J.D. Martinez has been called up to play for Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros, as announced by the organization late Friday evening.

Check out Martinez's first career major league hit, an RBI double to centerfield, HERE

Martinez, the 2010 Astros Minor League Player of the Year, has been proving his worth while playing at Double-A Corpus Christi this season. Before being called up, Martinez was hitting .340 with 13 home runs, 25 doubles and 71 RBI over 87 games. Martinez has improved as the season has progressed, hitting .389 over 90 at bats in the month of July.

“On behalf of the entire program, I want to congratulate J.D. for his accomplishment,” said NSU baseball head coach Greg Brown. “We all look forward to watching him establish himself as an everyday big leaguer.”

Martinez has been a steady force in the Astros’ farm system after being selected in the 20th round of the 2009 MLB Draft. Currently in his third professional season, Martinez has exceeded expectations at every level. While playing for Single-A Lexington, Martinez hit .362 with 15 home runs en route to a South Atlantic League Most Valuable Player award.

“This is a very unique situation for me as I signed him with the Houston Astros and now have the pleasure of running this program,” said Brown, a former scout for the Houston Astros. “I think it speaks volumes for the work that has been done here at NSU in the development of players by our staff and my predecessor Mike Mominey. It is a great day to be a Shark and we expect more big leaguers to come from within this program.”

The Astros made room for Martinez on their roster when they traded All-Star outfielder Hunter Pence to the Philadelphia Phillies. Martinez started in the Corpus Christi Hooks’ game against the Midland Rockhounds last evening. After two at bats, Martinez was pulled from the game in the third inning and alerted that he had been called up.

Martinez has led a pack of highly successful former Sharks playing in the minor league system. The pack includes former standouts in Michael Fiers, Mile Mikolas and four players drafted from last year’s squad.

This is another benchmark in what has been a milestone year for the NSU baseball program. Starting last summer with the hiring of Brown as head coach, it continued through the year as the program made its first NCAA postseason appearance this past spring. The Sharks earned their first ever NCAA postseason win on May 20 when NSU took down Stillman, 12-3. They followed up with their biggest win of the season the next day when they defeated No. 16 Harding, 5-4 (11th inn.).

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