Twins Prospect Austin Martin Still Has Plenty to Offer

Excited to see what Martin can do this spring.  Reminds me of what happened with Buxton early in his career when they kept tinkering with his swing - last year it was all about getting more power out of Martin, which didn't happen.  In that process however, I'm sure they were messing (and experimenting) with a variety of subtle changes to how he hit all trying to get more power.  Hopefully this year - less tinkering, and maybe we'll get more consistent results that lead him to be a top prospect in the first place.  Hard to judge someone while they are trying to learn something new.

Twins already know Martin is good enough to slot into the OF if needed; the question is whether or not he can be a quality defender on the dirt too. Seems a little unlikely at SS, but there's indicators that he could do quite well at 2B. He's an on-base machine with good speed and superior baserunning ability, so he doesn't need a lot of power to be a very good offensive player in MLB. But we'd sure like to see some. He's had trouble showing it at AA, but showed good flashes in the AFL and certainly did fine in his last two years of college. Martin's only had 2 years in the minors, was probably rushed to AA and had his development disrupted by a trade...so who is the real Martin?

I'm still a fan. He could be a great 4th OF for this team as early as next season; he could backup Buxton well, and as a righty bat be a nice fit amongst the LH corner OFs we have. I like his speed and baserunning, which would add a different dimension to the Twins offense.

I would like to see them work Martin into second base and right field, along with center field at times. I don't think he will find time at shortstop, but by the end of this season he could fill the the job at leadoff and right field quite well. With Polanco maybe not ready to start spring training at second base, that leaves an opening at second also.

47 minutes ago, farmerguychris said:

Excited to see what Martin can do this spring.  Reminds me of what happened with Buxton early in his career when they kept tinkering with his swing - last year it was all about getting more power out of Martin, which didn't happen.  In that process however, I'm sure they were messing (and experimenting) with a variety of subtle changes to how he hit all trying to get more power.  Hopefully this year - less tinkering, and maybe we'll get more consistent results that lead him to be a top prospect in the first place.  Hard to judge someone while they are trying to learn something new.

Exactly right! I still think very highly of Austin Martin and think the Twins will find a way to carve out a role for him in the future!

33 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

Twins already know Martin is good enough to slot into the OF if needed; the question is whether or not he can be a quality defender on the dirt too. Seems a little unlikely at SS, but there's indicators that he could do quite well at 2B. He's an on-base machine with good speed and superior baserunning ability, so he doesn't need a lot of power to be a very good offensive player in MLB. But we'd sure like to see some. He's had trouble showing it at AA, but showed good flashes in the AFL and certainly did fine in his last two years of college. Martin's only had 2 years in the minors, was probably rushed to AA and had his development disrupted by a trade...so who is the real Martin?

I'm still a fan. He could be a great 4th OF for this team as early as next season; he could backup Buxton well, and as a righty bat be a nice fit amongst the LH corner OFs we have. I like his speed and baserunning, which would add a different dimension to the Twins offense.

With his versatility, there’s a lot the Twins can do with him. I think they spend the next year playing him all over the diamond and try molding him into a super-utility type player. There’s going to be a lot of mouths to feed so I think Martin claims a role as a no-true-home kind of athlete. I think he will be a very good player for the Twins in coming years!

It was very good to see Martin's uptick in September and in the AFL. Sometimes we forget that a prospect's pain is rarely linear. There will be up years and down years. Hopefully, last year was simply a down year caused by the Twins trying to change his stroke to generate more power. We may just need to live with Martin as a good on-base percentage guy with occasional power so he can use the swing he's always had and get back to his "normal" self. His normal self is still a good thing to have even if not perfect.

I think there may be an opening at 2B sooner then we hope. The little snippets I read suggest that Polanco's knee is still not completely right. Let's not forget that with the shift being outlawed there is much more emphasis on range with middle infielders. Polanco's range was always decent but never stellar anyway, so losing a step could make it hard to keep him at 2B. Still, his bat definitely plays so it may be time for him to take that next step down the defensive spectrum and become a 1B. Even if we don't have to go that far, it is beginning to look like there are going to be significant available innings at 2B. Farmer can play against LH pitching, but you don't really want him playing much against RH pitching and besides, Farmer is 32 so he is not a long-term answer at any position.

That's all a long way of saying there's going to be an opening at 2B in the next couple years or maybe even as soon as this year. Martin is a little ahead of Lee at this point, although probably behind Lewis when he returns. I really think this could be the year that one of those three takes over the 2B position and Polanco moves over to 1B with Kirilloff in a 1B/OF/DH role. Hey, if they can all hit, we will have to find them all a place to play. 

20 minutes ago, gman said:

I would like to see them work Martin into second base and right field, along with center field at times. I don't think he will find time at shortstop, but by the end of this season he could fill the the job at leadoff and right field quite well. With Polanco maybe not ready to start spring training at second base, that leaves an opening at second also.

You’re right, I think shortstop is out of the question. With Correa resigning, I think they take this opportunity to get him time just about everywhere else. He will be a valuable tool for the Twins when he arrives!

Super-utility equates to jack of all trades, master of none. Manager's job is to learn where each player plays at his best and leave him there. It's not a question of where he "can" play, but rather where he excels.

It seems in todays world with the never ending amount of data we have access to people have very little patience with prospects/players in general.

In Martin's case he supposedly had one bad year - '22 in the minors & dropped in the prospect rankings. In his "disappointing" season he played the year at AA & had a .368 OBP with 35 SB's. Then he went on to play in the Arizona Fall league & hit .374 with a .936 OPS in 97 PA's, he also added 10 more SB's. In AA his BA was only .241 & his OPS only .683 so I guess that is what is being called disappointing. For a guy who is known for getting on base & being a very good base runner I'm not sure I see it as a disappointing season. IMO seems he's on track to be a good ballplayer.

Other than his supposedly lack of power - which can be overcome at the plate with BA, OBP, BARISP and SBs - there is no reason that Martin is not in the mix for a starting corner OF job next season along with Gordon, Larnach, and Wallner. 2B is more of a long shot if Lee/Lewis and Julien are ahead of him in the queue.

Martin has top of the order plate and running skills. Also, I agree with Dave the Dastardly - get him a position and let him run with it.

Martin, in my book, remains, at this moment, a better overall prospect than Salas.

Martin turns 24 on March 23, which is already getting old for a prospects. IMO if he isn't amazing this year and force his way to the big leagues, he probably will just be another prospect that failed to live up to expectations. (Because he probably be passed by other prospects)

I believe he can and will become a good major league player for years, but I don't see him becoming an everyday starting player because I belief the next prospects with more upside will slide him out. See Nick Gordon.

So fixated on power in today's game. HR's. I'm sure I'm being way overly optimistic. But with Austin Martin I envision a RH hitting Joe Mauer potential. With better speed. I don't believe what he did at Vandy was pretend and his AZFL brought it back to life.

Good article.  We have a lot of exciting young players.  And let's face it, these are the Twins and nobody can stay healthy so you can never have too much depth.  

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

I think it's disappointing because those OBP numbers are likely impossible to maintain as he moves up the ladder if he can't hit higher than .241 and/or slug more than .317. Major league pitchers won't walk him at the kind of rates he'd need to be walked to be a useful player if he's only hitting .241 with no power. That's the disappointing part. What it means for his projections if he can't hit better than .241. He won't get on base at those clips against major league pitchers if he can't impact the ball significantly better than he did during most of the season. That's why the AFL stint was so encouraging.

There were 32 qualified major leaguers with an OBP of .350 or higher last year. The lowest batting average amongst them was .242 by Juan Soto. But he slugged .452, is a feared MLB star, and is known for having one of the best eyes in the history of baseball (his 20.3% walk rate last year is astronomical. For reference, Martin was at 11.8% in AA). The next lowest BA was .252 for Christian Yelich. The average OPS for that group was .846. Average BA for that group was .289. So I think it's pretty reasonable to call him hitting .241 and OPSing .683 in AA disappointing.

Edited to add: None of that means he's doomed or we should give up on him. Simply that he did have a disappointing season.

If we're already saying what he does now is likely impossible then who cares what his stats are in the Minors. You're post is exactly what I was referring to. Getting lost in the numbers when we're talking about a prospect developing while playing in the minors.

OPS is slanted towards power, it's doubtful Martin will ever be much of a power hitter so his OPS numbers won't be that great. His value lies in his ability to get on base & being a good base runner. In todays game that doesn't make you an MVP candidate, but you can be an effective offensive player.

I fully agree with chepettit, Martin is going to have to be an OBP machine and be able to leg out some doubles at a fair clip. I absolutely believe he can do it. We could really use this kind of player as a future CF. Best wishes this season Austin.

Many pundits believed Martin would never stick at SS, so why did the Twins make Martin suffer there & waste his time. They should have stuck him in CF to begin with, where he could have excelled & improved his value. Also last season he tinkered  too much with his swing, towards the end of the season into AFL he found his groove & shown surprising pop.

His RH bat is much welcomed in the OF. Even though it's crowded with his tool box full, he'll be a valuable asset. Which cannot be denied especially with his flexibility to be able to admirably fill in at 2B. His RH bat will also prevent someone that shouldn't be playing the OF from playing there.

There is spot for Martin in the future winning Twins roster don't sell him short.

3 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Benintendi has never been an MVP candidate. Not a single vote, even in his one good year. 

 I don't care what a guy does on offense AND defense. Tell me what the guy does on offense, THEN tell me what he does on defense. Offense is >>>>>>> important than defense, so get me a good bat, then we find out if his glove plays in the field. If it doesn't, get me another good bat and we'll see if his glove plays in the field. Good defense does not make up for being an offensive liability. Offense and defense shouldn't be one combined metric using a sliding scale based on an arbitrary percentage of the weight being given to defense.

I'm all for analytics, but the modern era has this part all wrong. Offensive statistics are concrete and calculable. Defensive statistics are arbitrary, largely based on estimates and often proven fallible. We know the guy will have a chance to show his worth on offense every ninth at bat, but he may not have the ball hit to him all game long. Two separate and very different evaluations, not one. Offense first, defense second.

I'm guessing you were not big on somebody like Buxton to start.  Considering he was all defense/glove and no bat first few years.

Good article. Lots of great discussion. I have to believe that out of Lee, Lewis, Miranda, Martin, Gordon, Kirilloff, Larnach, and Walner that the Twins will find a 1B, 2B, 3B, LF and RF.  Leave C4 at SS and Buck at CF and build around them. Miranda is limited to 1B or 3B  and Walner and Larnach are limited to OF. Kirilloff is limited to 1B and OF and looked extremely smooth at 1B. Lee, Lewis, Martin and Gordon were/are all SS's and can probably play anywhere. I wonder if there is a catcher in this bunch? If I were an IF prospect, other than Miller and possibly Salas, and other than those mentioned here, I'd strongly consider catching.

There's a lot of swing and miss and plodding in this system now. If he can continue to get on base, hit, run and field adequately, there should be room for him (at 2nd, 3rd or OF corners in the coming years). I'm excited to see what he can do. 

10 hours ago, se7799 said:

I'm guessing you were not big on somebody like Buxton to start.  Considering he was all defense/glove and no bat first few years.

Buxton was 21 when he was first called up and his minor league stats are .301 average, OBP of .376 and SLG .507.  These two players are nothing like each other, at 24 Martin doesn't have the time to come in the league and hit like Buxton did, if he does his career will be real, real short.