Austin Martin Doesn’t Fit the Current Twins Roster

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

Austin Martin may have played the best game of his Twins career on Monday night against the Baltimore Orioles. He went 4-for-5 with a double, a home run, three runs scored, and a stolen base, putting together the kind of performance that reminded everyone why Minnesota was so excited to acquire him at the 2021 trade deadline. 

Martin was the top prospect coming back to the Twins in the Jose Berrios trade, and Monday provided a glimpse of the player the organization hoped he could eventually become. Unfortunately, one excellent game doesn’t erase what has been a prolonged stretch of poor offensive performance.

For the first six weeks or so of the season, Martin looked like he was finally becoming the hitter the Twins envisioned when they acquired him. He was never expected to provide much power, but he was making up for it by leaning into the strengths that had always defined his offensive game. Martin was making consistent contact, showing impressive strike-zone awareness, and finding his way onto the bases with regularity. 

Through May 14, he owned a .333 batting average and a remarkable .454 on-base percentage, while drawing more walks than strikeouts. His 155 wRC+ during that span suggested Minnesota had found a legitimate high-level contact bat. At the end of April, Twins Daily named Martin the team’s Hitter of the Month, which was especially encouraging based on his strong finish to 2025 (108 OPS+ in 50 games).

That early-season success made Martin's subsequent collapse even more difficult to understand. Since May 14, he is batting just .186/.290/.273 for a .563 OPS over 200 plate appearances. His strikeout-to-walk ratio during that stretch is 40-to-20, and he has been worth -0.83 WPA. Over a 162-game pace, that comes out to roughly -2.0 WPA. Those aren't numbers that simply suggest a player is going through a minor slump. They're the kind of numbers that make it difficult for a team trying to remain competitive to justify keeping a player in the lineup.

The Twins have also tried to put Martin in situations where he can succeed. He has received some protection from right-handed pitching because the platoon numbers are so different. Martin owns a .587 OPS against right-handed pitchers compared to a much better .809 OPS against lefties. Still, some of those positive numbers versus southpaws came in the season’s early weeks. 

The problem is that opponents have also figured out that there isn't much reason to fear Martin's power. His .337 slugging percentage against fastballs is nearly 40 points lower than it was in 2025, while his contact against breaking and offspeed pitches has been particularly problematic. He is batting below .175 against those pitch types, making it increasingly difficult for him to consistently reach base the way he did earlier in the season.

That's where the roster fit becomes especially difficult to defend. Martin's best traits are supposed to be his ability to make contact and get on base, but when neither of those things is happening consistently, there isn't much else to carry his offensive profile. He isn't providing enough power to make up for a low batting average, and the current version of Martin isn't getting on base at a high enough clip to justify sacrificing offense elsewhere in the lineup.

The Twins also have a fairly easy solution available if they decide it's time for a reset. Martin has one minor league option remaining, meaning Minnesota can send him to Triple-A without having to expose him to waivers and potentially lose him for nothing. 

There is precedent for taking this approach with a talented player who has struggled at the big-league level, as the Twins did with Royce Lewis earlier this season. A trip to the minors could give Martin an opportunity to get regular at-bats, work through his swing, and rediscover the approach that made him so effective during the first six weeks of the season.

The timing could make even more sense with Byron Buxton expected to return as early as this weekend. Instead of trying to find another way to squeeze Martin into an already crowded roster, the Twins could use Buxton's return as an opportunity to make the move. Martin can go to Triple-A and work on getting back to the player he looked like in April and early May, while Minnesota puts a more productive lineup on the field during a critical portion of the season.

Monday's performance should not be ignored, either. Going 4-for-5 with a home run, double, three runs, and a stolen base is exactly the type of game that can remind a player and an organization what is possible. But the Twins can't make roster decisions based on one night, especially when the previous 200 plate appearances have been this poor.

Martin still has time to change the narrative surrounding his Twins career. The organization invested heavily in his potential when it acquired him as part of the Berríos trade, and his early-season production showed that there may still be a legitimate big-league hitter somewhere in there. Right now, though, the Twins need production more than they need potential, and Martin hasn't provided enough of it for nearly half a season.

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Does Martin need a reset at Triple-A? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

 

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[PuckettPond]

I was expecting better production from him & the other guy from the Berrios trade. How do we fix an Austin Martin, Jiffy Lube?

[NYCTK]

This late in the season, using his last remaining option has to be considered carefully. Sending Roden down instead retains that option year which makes him far more rosterable next season.

Tough equation. 

[The Great Hambino]

2 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

This late in the season, using his last remaining option has to be considered carefully. Sending Roden down instead retains that option year which makes him far more rosterable next season.

Tough equation. 

That's a good point - they're already looking at a potential bind with an optionless E-Rod next year.  Facing that with Martin as well?   I don't think they want to be in that position

[DJL44]

He’s half of a platoon with Trevor Larnach. He’s a LOT better than Larnach at hitting LHP and better on defense. You have to think of them combined as one Left Fielder.

[Major League Ready]

He fits fine as a 4th OFer, starter against LHP, and late inning replacement / pinch runner.  If there is a problem, it's not Martin, it's the construction of other parts of the roster.

[Cris E]

In another thread today I said that Martin and Keaschall are essentially the same guy: failed middle infielder who had to move to the OF, didn't have a lot of power but offered some OBP and SB in a lineup that needed it.  I'd amend that to say that Martin is not as good a hitter against RH pitching and Keaschall is a worse fielder anywhere on the diamond. 

At one point Martin was a terrible OF too, and over time he has improved so there remains hope for Luke. And Martin has shown periods where he didn't show this huge split, so some hope may remain for him too. 

That said, they do kind of fill the same niche, and as soon as Larnach's platoon leaves the lineup (probably over the winter) then Martin's place will go with it and Luke will have LF mostly to himself to become a lead glove (lead as in Pb, not as in leadership) leadoff speedster. 

[wesnewy]

I was really hoping we would have sent him off in one of the trade packages we dealt. We have an abundance of OF depth and only so many spots to roster, and with Martin's limited number of options, he should have been on the front page of the trade deadline advertisement list.