According to Baseball America's Matt Eddy on Twitter (@eddymk) the Pittsburgh Pirates announced this afternoon that they had signed 24-year-old Curacao-born right-hander Shairon Martis. Martis, a one-time Giants' prospect acquired by the Nats in a July '06 trade that sent left-handed reliever Mike Stanton to San Francisco, spent the 2011 campaign at Double-A Harrisburg, making headlines by throwing a 7.0-inning no-hitter in August and finishing the year, his sixth in the Nationals' organization, with an (8-6) record, 3.05 ERA, 2.79 FIP, 39 BB (2.64 BB/9) and 146 K's (9.88 K/9) in 23 games and 133.0 IP.
Martis made his MLB debut in September 2008, two years after the trade from the Giants, and he made 19 starts over the next two seasons including a stretch of seven starts at the beginning of the '09 campaign in which he was (5-0) with the Nats 5-2 with the right-hander on the mound. Martis would make just eight starts after that, allowing 43 hits and 32 runs, 31 earned in 44.0 IP before he was sent to Triple-A Syracuse in late-June with D.C. GM Mike Rizzo telling MLB.com's Bill Ladson at the time that Martis, "...has to go down and do what got him to the big leagues -- pound the strike zone, execute his pitches and get ahead of the hitters."
Martis would spend the rest of 2009 and all of 2010 at Triple-A Syracuse. Martis finished the 2010 season with an (8-7) record, a 4.09 ERA, 4.32 FIP, 5.86 K/9 and 3.55 BB/9 in 27 starts and 152.0 IP, and after he was assigned to minor league camp in the first round of cuts last Spring, he started the 2011 season back at Double-A Harrisburg. Martis is currently pitching for the Tiburones de la Guaira in the Liga Venezuela Beisbol Profesional where he's (1-1) with a 1.89 ERA, 10 walks and 14 K's in 4 games, 3 starts and 19.0 IP.