Austin Martin: The Minnesota Twins' Next Defensive Star?

[Doctor Wu]

8 hours ago, arby58 said:

That dog won't hunt.

I always smile when I read or hear that phrase. Great stuff!

[TwinsDr2021]

2 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Martin is athletic but he isn't a natural OFer, If they want him to be an OFer they need Tori Hunter to mentor him. Twins coaches don't seem to help much, it looks like they let him flounder out there by himself.

IMO you can't coach where a ball is going to land that is natural instinct and repetition. You can coach footwork on a throw, how to get under a ball to throw, angles to cut off men and other stuff after you have gotten to the ball. But some people's brain just works faster than others, why are some people that are slower able to get to ball faster guys can't?

[arby58]

2 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

When they acquired Bader, they don't need him in the OF so why play him out there? He's more needed at 2B which is his more natural position, keep him there & let him be good there, I don't care that he isn't a slugger, he can get on base take & steal that extra base & doesn't SO a lot. What MN needs more than anything is a good lead-off hitter. Kepler, Wallner, Larnach & Margot types don't cut it. Martin is our best bet. someone who gets on base, a terror on the basepath, shakes up pitchers to make mistakes for following batters to take advantage of & spark rallies. 

Martin's OBP last year with the Twins was .318, which is nothing to write home about - he trailed Correa, Wallner, Larnach, Buxton, Castro, Santana, and Miranda in that category. Yes, he can steal an occasional base (7 last year) and he is faster than most other hitters, but when you combine a pedestrian OBP with a meek slugging percentage (.352) you end up with a not great OPS of .670 and an OPS+ of 89. He really needs to up his OBP because he's never hit more than 7 HRs in a season of professional baseball.

[Doctor Gast]

1 hour ago, arby58 said:

Martin's OBP last year with the Twins was .318, which is nothing to write home about - he trailed Correa, Wallner, Larnach, Buxton, Castro, Santana, and Miranda in that category. Yes, he can steal an occasional base (7 last year) and he is faster than most other hitters, but when you combine a pedestrian OBP with a meek slugging percentage (.352) you end up with a not great OPS of .670 and an OPS+ of 89. He really needs to up his OBP because he's never hit more than 7 HRs in a season of professional baseball.

Utility player isn't an easy task especially when thrown into it on a MLB level. We need you to be a utility player, have a go at it. It's lot easier to have one easy position & stick there to get acclimated. There's a lot of adjusting going from AAA to MLB defensively & offensively with a lot of extra pressure & Baldelli never made it easy on him. At every level from college to AAA, he has excelled in OBP & had decent OPS. You are comparing a rookie to seasoned veterans & players who play positions that demand higher OPS. I'd hope a healthy veteran 1Bman to have at least a .800+, a measley .749 is what is sad. I expect Martin to settle in & produce a .400 OBP, .800 OPS & 25+ SBs at the MLB level. I assume a rookie is more dependent on being sent than going on their own (as far as stealing bases go). My guess with Bader & not considered for 2B, Martin won't have that chance to prove himself.

[mikelink45]

I am not a Martin fan - we have some good prospects I would rather see get a chance - Never understood the excitement - I know we just wanted to show we did well with the trade, but as I saw the headline I looked for Michael Rand as the writer. 

[DJL44]

12 hours ago, NYCTK said:

Is Rocco seriously dumb enough just to be tricked by just athleticism? 

I agree that the comments are worrisome, especially when paired with the immediate embrace of Ty France. They suggest that Rocco does not know how to judge talent.

I think Austin Martin can improve in the outfield, mainly because it would be difficult for him to get much worse. He had a Delmon Young caliber season last year and I don't think he's that bad. However, he doesn't even have the physical tools (speed, arm) to be a "defensive star". He's 26 in March, he's not going to get faster, and he's had nearly 1400 innings in the outfield as a pro so experience should not be an issue. I would put his upside as "adequate".

[NYCTK]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

he's had nearly 1400 innings in the outfield as a pro so experience should not be an issue.

This is the thing that keeps getting me. People here keep repeating this idea that he's still learning the position. As if he's brand new to baseball and never set foot in the outfield in his life. You either are instinctually good at certain things or you aren't. You can't LEARN to get better jumps on balls after a certain point. Another 200 innings in CF isn't gonna cause something to click. 

Jackson Merrill had never played the OF as a professional before last Spring Training, and because he's a great ballplayer with great instincts and Baseball IQ, he was almost immediately a great defender out there. 

Austin Martin is not Jackson Merrill. Sad thing, he's probably not even Payton Eeles. Only reason he's on the 40 man roster is because he was a 1st round draft pick and was the return of a higher profile trade. 

[HerbieFan]

16 hours ago, Matthew Lenz said:

Yea, he was sort of positionless in the minors and that probably hurt his development a bit. I'll be interested to see him get more seasoning in the OF...seems like he has the traits to be good out there.

I thought they should've had him playing just LF and 2B in St.Paul.  Those seem to be the only positions where his skill set is best suited.  Not a great arm.  Speed.  Hit hitting is more of a 2B prototype than anything.  Baseball is SO much about reps....I'm really hoping if they maybe narrow down his positions and get him more reps at those positions his athleticism will start to show out more.

[ashbury]

4 hours ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

IMO you can't coach where a ball is going to land

If the ball no longer appears to be moving to the left or the right, nor up nor down, then it's about to smack you between the eyes.  Put your glove up.  I learned that one the hard way, but I bet it can be coached.

[Squirrel]

46 minutes ago, ashbury said:

If the ball no longer appears to be moving to the left or the right, nor up nor down, then it's about to smack you between the eyes.  Put your glove up.  I learned that one the hard way, but I bet it can be coached.

What are you saying? That you can be coached to not let the ball hit you in the head?

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, HerbieFan said:

I thought they should've had him playing just LF and 2B in St.Paul.  Those seem to be the only positions where his skill set is best suited.  Not a great arm.  Speed.  Hit hitting is more of a 2B prototype than anything.  Baseball is SO much about reps....I'm really hoping if they maybe narrow down his positions and get him more reps at those positions his athleticism will start to show out more.

They keep trying to make players into a utility knife.  Most players are just a knife.  Put him at one position and stick with it.  

[TwinsDr2021]

4 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

. I expect Martin to settle in & produce a .400 OBP, .800 OPS & 25+ SBs at the MLB level.

Why would you expect that? his minor league career is .397/.63/.760? with 76 SB while getting caught 15 times.

[HerbieFan]

35 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

They keep trying to make players into a utility knife.  Most players are just a knife.  Put him at one position and stick with it.  

Well said...

[chpettit19]

44 minutes ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

Why would you expect that? his minor league career is .397/.63/.760? with 76 SB while getting caught 15 times.

Not to mention that there were 4 hitters with at least 200 PAs in all of baseball with an OBP of .400 last year. They're names I think people will recognize. Judge, Soto, Tucker, and Yelich. There were only 18 players in all of baseball with at least 200 PAs and an OBP of .375 or higher. Only 46 guys at .350 or higher. That's 1.5 guys per team with just a .350 OBP. All but 2 (an injured Acuna Jr and Mike Tauchman) had a slug of at least .380. Martin slugged .363 in the minors. No MLB pitcher fears him and his ability to draw walks against guys with actual control and no fear of him is going to be insanely limited. 

He had 21 games in the AFL where he managed to OPS .800 and 28 games in AAA last year where he got to that number. Otherwise he's never had an OPS of .800 in the minors. I loved Martin coming out of college and was thrilled when they got him in the Berrios trade. But he's never learned to impact the ball enough to be a threat. He's not getting anywhere near a .400 OBP or .800 OPS. That's suggesting he'll be a better hitter in the majors than he's ever been in the minors. Not a lot of examples of guys doing that out there.

[USAFChief]

I think "approaching average defensively" is a more realistic goal for Martin.

 

I'd put "defensive star" somewhere around ".400 OBP" in liklihood. 

 

 

[chpettit19]

As for Martin becoming a defensive "star," I don't see it. He just doesn't read the ball well. More reps can certainly improve that, but, as others have pointed out, he's had a lot of experience in the outfield over his college and minor league career. He can certainly still improve, but to expect him to reach "star" status is a bridge (way) too far for me. I hope he improves and can be about an average fielder which would give him a solid chance of having a nice career as a (likely journeyman) utility player. But getting beyond average is a monumental ask.

I'm not as against the moving around of players defensively as some here, but I do blame the Twins for him having to improve more now in the outfield if they're truly just moving him there more or less full time. They spent way too long running him out at SS when he had no shot of ever sticking there. Should've moved him to CF as soon as they got him and let him build his experience there. Wasting all those innings at SS was a massive mistake that I'd love to hear the real thought process behind.

[TheLeviathan]

We really shouldn't ask Rocco baseball questions while he's at a Phish concert.  

[David Maro]

Short and Sweet can't read the ball,can't catch the ball!!

[arby58]

13 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

I expect Martin to settle in & produce a .400 OBP, .800 OPS & 25+ SBs at the MLB level. 

His OPS in 4 years in the minors averaged .760, and OBP .397 - it's quite a stretch to suggest he is going to outperform his minor league averages in MLB.  

[Doctor Gast]

5 hours ago, arby58 said:

His OPS in 4 years in the minors averaged .760, and OBP .397 - it's quite a stretch to suggest he is going to outperform his minor league averages in MLB.  

There is always a time of adjustment at each level. where in the beginning the stats were lower, but once settled in his stats reached well above his average, In the beginning of his pro career, he was coached to be who he wasn't, which negatively affected his production. Martin has been doing a lot of major adjusting in his 1st year of MLB & is still adjusting which makes it very difficult to settle in. Martin's MiLB average isn't far off my projection of what he can do on the MLB level once settled in. IMO he has the spunk to do it.

[arby58]

3 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

There is always a time of adjustment at each level. where in the beginning the stats were lower, but once settled in his stats reached well above his average, In the beginning of his pro career, he was coached to be who he wasn't, which negatively affected his production. Martin has been doing a lot of major adjusting in his 1st year of MLB & is still adjusting which makes it very difficult to settle in. Martin's MiLB average isn't far off my projection of what he can do on the MLB level once settled in. IMO he has the spunk to do it.

It's rare to find a player who matches his performance in the minors in MLB. Sometimes if a player is consistently younger than average for a league, but Martin was drafted out of college, so that hasn't always been the case. Cases in point: Miranda OBP of .315 and OPS of .729 in MLB, .338 and .777 in the minors. Julien .343 and .742 in MLB and .430 and .904 in the minors. Wallner .365 and .866 MLB and .379 and .896 minors. Those weren't cherry picked, just the first three I thought of that are sort of Martin's contemporaries. 
 

[stringer bell]

On 2/25/2025 at 4:23 AM, Doctor Gast said:

Martin is athletic but he isn't a natural OFer, If they want him to be an OFer they need Tori Hunter to mentor him. Twins coaches don't seem to help much, it looks like they let him flounder out there by himself. Like the PIT game he lost the ball in the sun & wasn't charged with an error, there are many times he wasn't charged with errors but to the stats & fans, they still count those plays against him. 

When they acquired Bader, they don't need him in the OF so why play him out there? He's more needed at 2B which is his more natural position, keep him there & let him be good there, I don't care that he isn't a slugger, he can get on base take & steal that extra base & doesn't SO a lot. What MN needs more than anything is a good lead-off hitter. Kepler, Wallner, Larnach & Margot types don't cut it. Martin is our best bet. someone who gets on base, a terror on the basepath, shakes up pitchers to make mistakes for following batters to take advantage of & spark rallies. 

Martin is athletic & has made a few spectacular plays in the OF but he's not needed there so why put him through all that grief? It doesn't matter what he does because he's not a slugger so he's automatically a bad player.

There will be injuries and somebody will disappoint. I fully expect Martin to get at least 150 PAs this year with plenty of time in center field. The same for guys on the 40-man not expected to make the Opening Day roster. I want Martin to thrive because he brings speed to a team that is really lacking that quality with the (more developed) potential to be an asset on the bases. That's really a niche though and he needs to improve both at the plate and in the field to be more than a 4A player.

[Doctor Gast]

3 hours ago, arby58 said:

It's rare to find a player who matches his performance in the minors in MLB. Sometimes if a player is consistently younger than average for a league, but Martin was drafted out of college, so that hasn't always been the case. Cases in point: Miranda OBP of .315 and OPS of .729 in MLB, .338 and .777 in the minors. Julien .343 and .742 in MLB and .430 and .904 in the minors. Wallner .365 and .866 MLB and .379 and .896 minors. Those weren't cherry picked, just the first three I thought of that are sort of Martin's contemporaries. 
 

IMO Miranda & Wallner could still hit over their MiLB averages, Wallner has had the most opportunities so he could hit it 1st. Now I haven't been talking about MLB average, I'm talking about hitting those marks.

[Doctor Gast]

2 hours ago, stringer bell said:

There will be injuries and somebody will disappoint. I fully expect Martin to get at least 150 PAs this year with plenty of time in center field. The same for guys on the 40-man not expected to make the Opening Day roster. I want Martin to thrive because he brings speed to a team that is really lacking that quality with the (more developed) potential to be an asset on the bases. That's really a niche though and he needs to improve both at the plate and in the field to be more than a 4A player.

Martin has made good plays in CF but he's overwhelmed there. Kepler knew that it's not easy. I'm not for forcing Martin into a MLB CF like they did with SS because he's athletic. Instead of putting Julien or trying to put Lewis at 2B, they should put Martin there & let him settle in one easier position. Martin is producing far below what he's capable of but he's not a AAAA player. 

[NYCTK]

20 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Martin has made good plays in CF but he's overwhelmed there. Kepler knew that it's not easy. I'm not for forcing Martin into a MLB CF like they did with SS because he's athletic. Instead of putting Julien or trying to put Lewis at 2B, they should put Martin there & let him settle in one easier position. Martin is producing far below what he's capable of but he's not a AAAA player. 

What has Martin done to earn the chance to settle into 2B? Unless I'm misunderstanding and you mean that even in the minors to settle into the position and see if he can become a good defender there. 

Honestly, his best case scenario seems to be a 250/330/350 hitter with average 2B defense. He has zero upside. He's a significantly worse Luis Guillorme. I want to see Julien, Lee, or Eeles beat him out. 

 

[DJL44]

14 hours ago, arby58 said:

His OPS in 4 years in the minors averaged .760, and OBP .397 - it's quite a stretch to suggest he is going to outperform his minor league averages in MLB.  

Especially when AAA is a higher offense environment overall compared to MLB. The average AAA batting line is higher than the average MLB batting line.

[Riverbrian]

It's only one game... but I found it interesting that today's lineup had Martin in CF and Keirsay in RF. 

Again it's only one game but the Twins seemingly haven't given up on the idea of Martin in CF. 

It was also interesting that today's lineup at Julien at 1B and Gasper at 2B. 

With all of those defensive issues in one spring training lineup... it stands to reason that the Tigers only managed 1 hit. 

[USAFChief]

7 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

I

With all of those defensive issues in one spring training lineup... it stands to reason that the Tigers only managed 1 hit. 

The Tigers had TWICE that number of hits. Sheeeesh. You're WAY off.

[arby58]

9 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

IMO Miranda & Wallner could still hit over their MiLB averages, Wallner has had the most opportunities so he could hit it 1st. Now I haven't been talking about MLB average, I'm talking about hitting those marks.

It's an interesting question. So, I looked at basically all the Twins regulars from last year with a significant number of at bats at both (besides the previously cited Wallner, Miranda, and Julien, I added Correa, Larnach, Buxton, Castro, Santana, Jeffers, Kepler, Lewis, Vazquez). 

The ONLY one who has posted higher average OPB and OPS in MLB than in the minors is Lewis. Austin Martin is no Royce Lewis.

[ashbury]

8 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

It's only one game... but I found it interesting that today's lineup had Martin in CF and Keirsay in RF.

Keirsey has logged 3000+ innings in CF while Martin has under 1000 there.  Keirsey has just under 300 innings in RF under his belt, while Martin's rag arm doesn't make him a serious RF candidate except in extremely small doses.  If Spring games are for answering questions, perhaps the alignment they chose today did more for that than flipping the two.

(I'm not sure what question Jeferson Morales playing LF proposed to answer. 😀 )