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.

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.

[LA Vikes Fan]

1 hour 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. 

I think we keep him on the roster to preserve that last option and to be the RH hitting side of the LF platoon. He's picked it up lately so I don't think the situation is as dire as the post suggests. He's .246/.384/.386 (.770) over his last 30 games (57 ABs), .250/.342/.438 (.780) over the last 15 (32 ABs), and .316/.409/.579 (.988) over the last 7 (19 ABs, SSS). It looks more like he had a really bad stretch from mid-May to mid-July and is coming out of it. His month OPS tracks that - .971 in March, .892 in April, .588 in May, .507 in June, .766 in July, and .761 so far in August. That wide variation in performance is kind of standard from a player in his first taste of MLB. The real problem is he has a pretty narrow path to success - that .384 OBP over the last month is really what we need from him over a full season. This is his first full season in the Bigs and his overall .355 OBP for the season is some cause for optimism. You have to add to that the fact that there isn't anyone dominating in AAA and/or able to be the RH hitter in a LF platoon with Larnach. It seems to make more sense to send down Roden if we want Jenkins or Emma up to play regularly, or to wait and bring one of them up as the extra player on 9/1 if the goal is to just get their feet wet this year. 

[DataNerd]

Martin is a good platoon OF, and we have a ton of LHH OF for him to platoon with here and in St Paul.  He's also had a 127 wRC+ in July and 115 in August, so why would we be sending him down?

For LHH OFs, we have Larnach, Jenkins, Roden, ERod, Mendez.  Martin has a 137 wRC+ against LHP.  Our only other RHH guys are Buxton (who is starting when healthy) and Keaschall (who is starting if he can play defense and hasn't actually been better against LHP than RHP).  Martin is a great fit for this roster.

[Jacksson]

BOTH Larnach  and Martin should have been dealt at the trade deadline but they are still here because Zoll didn't have the guts to dump them and TP, in his hallucinatory, optimistic stupor thinks that his team of misfits can actually contend and has managed to get a fair number of Twins' fans to drink that Kool-Aid.  

[Jacksson]

"At one point Martin was a terrible OF." He still is.  Check out the highlights where in successive innings, he misplayed a hit in the first inning into a (favorable hometown scorer) a triple and the very next inning played (favorable hometown scorer) a hit into a double.  Played both like he belonged back in Class A ball.  Where was the Sizemore coaching influence on those two comical plays? 

Perhaps his hair was in his eyes - this is the Major Leagues = get a haircut.

[Althebum82]

Looked at the "last 15 games" numbers for Roden.  Surprisingly respectable!

Did the same thing for Martin......and he is doing even better.

If recency has any relevance, we need to ride Martin and his strengths/weaknesses through the end of the season.

 

[mnfireman]

56 minutes ago, Jacksson said:

BOTH Larnach  and Martin should have been dealt at the trade deadline but they are still here because Zoll didn't have the guts to dump them and TP, in his hallucinatory, optimistic stupor thinks that his team of misfits can actually contend and has managed to get a fair number of Twins' fans to drink that Kool-Aid.  

 

42 minutes ago, Jacksson said:

"At one point Martin was a terrible OF." He still is.  Check out the highlights where in successive innings, he misplayed a hit in the first inning into a (favorable hometown scorer) a triple and the very next inning played (favorable hometown scorer) a hit into a double.  Played both like he belonged back in Class A ball.  Where was the Sizemore coaching influence on those two comical plays? 

Perhaps his hair was in his eyes - this is the Major Leagues = get a haircut.

[SD happy]

45 minutes ago, Jacksson said:

"At one point Martin was a terrible OF." He still is.  Check out the highlights where in successive innings, he misplayed a hit in the first inning into a (favorable hometown scorer) a triple and the very next inning played (favorable hometown scorer) a hit into a double.  Played both like he belonged back in Class A ball.  Where was the Sizemore coaching influence on those two comical plays? 

Perhaps his hair was in his eyes - this is the Major Leagues = get a haircut.

It sure seems like you following the Twins makes you pretty miserable. Maybe you should get another hobby.

[PuckettPond]

Would a shave & a haircut make him fit in better?

[Parfigliano]

20 minutes ago, PuckettPond said:

Would a shave & a haircut make him fit in better?

With the Yankees....yes.

[mnfireman]

The Yankees have dropped that policy...

[TL]

It’s a very good point about preserving his option. I suspect that will carry the day and I agree with that. He’s valuable enough to keep up and not burn it. Unfortunately he looks like more of a 5th outfielder long term who can help keep the wheels from coming off in case of injury but he’s not a regular or even platoon in my mind. Worth keeping over Roden right now because he’s right handed but one of them needs to go tomorrow for Jenkins!
 

 

[90stwinskid]

2 hours ago, Jacksson said:

BOTH Larnach  and Martin should have been dealt at the trade deadline but they are still here because Zoll didn't have the guts to dump them and TP, in his hallucinatory, optimistic stupor thinks that his team of misfits can actually contend and has managed to get a fair number of Twins' fans to drink that Kool-Aid.  

In that case, I seem to have drunk *some* of that Kool-Aid. And I don't think I'm the only one.

I hope there's some "positive regression" in store for Martin, even this season. He can be a great fit as a weak-side platoon with all the LHH OFs we have on the roster.

[DocBauer]

First of all, let me state that I don't dislike Martin. He's grown defensively as an OF to actually be pretty good, even with a mediocre arm. I liked what he showed with his bat in 2025, and I love what he did early in this season. And I was fully in favor of him getting a full time opportunity when Larnach was sent down. Unfortunately, he's also proven he really is a RH bat that should only hit against LHP and be a late inning defender and PR. (Though his reported speed has NEVER translated in to being a good base stealer).

I agree with NOT burning his last option with a month and a half left in the season. I also agree he still has value as the RH counter to Larnach in LF, at least for now.

I wouldn't just give up on him at this point. But is he the RIGHT FIT for the Twins going forward? I have to say no.

Martin never had to be a power hitter to be successful as a ML player. He just needed some decent POP in his bat. If you don't have SOME XB threat in your bat, ML pitchers will adjust and challenge you repeatedly, and often win. Without that ability, you'd better be an amazing HITTER. And I just don't think Martin has shown to be anything but a decent hitter. 

Unfortunately, the Twins are very short on RH OF. Gonzalez is really the only option close to being ready. And he might need a little more time at AAA before he's ready. The Twins don't need to find an expensive RH slugger for 2027. But let's be honest about the roster next season. The OF will be Buxton, Jenkins, Rodriguez, and Keaschall in what I believe will be as a utility role, but playing daily. Clemens can also help in the OF as needed. (Yes, there will be some growing pains with the rookies, but the potential payoff is huge).

What the 2027 Twins need...via FA or trade...is just a competent defensive corner RH OF...who doesn't completely stink against RHP...but who hits LHP well and can lace DBLS and crank out a few HR. A hitter LHP have to respect in the box. 

I don't think Martin is that guy, and Gonzalez probably won't be ready. Again, I wouldn't just give up on Martin or burn his final option at this time. He's still the best viable option for this season. But I just don't believe he fits what the Twins need going forward after this season.

[Greglw3]

As a platoon player vs lefties, leading off (anyone who can do anything well vs lefties is a boon for the Twins), Austin Martin for the whole season, has a .409 OBP. That’s just plain valuable. And probably why Martin gets the start vs lefties in the leadoff spot. He’s an asset.

[S Bart]

Honestly,  my lack of confidence is Buxton if he keeps needing the cortisone shots.