Prospect of the Day: J.D. Martinez, OF, Houston Astros
by John Sickels on Jul 15, 2011 8:00 AM EDT
Email
Print
Prospect of the Day: J.D. Martinez, OF, Houston Astros
Houston Astros outfield prospect J.D. Martinez is tearing up the Double-A Texas League, ranking fourth in the circuit in batting average and ninth in OPS despite playing in the difficult hitting environment of Corpus Christi. What explains the success of this former 20th round draft pick?
Martinez was a very successful player at Nova Southeastern University in Florida, hitting .428/.530/.770 in 2009, with 41 walks against 26 strikeouts in 187 at-bats. Although the NSU Sharks play good competition in the Sunshine State Conference, it is still a Division II school. Despite his performance, his college background and an unorthodox swing ensured that Martinez was lost in the shuffle on draft day, falling to the 20th round.
He adapted quickly to pro ball, hitting .326/.380/.540 for Tri-City in the New York-Penn League after signing, winning the league batting title. Still, a college senior tearing up the NY-P is not unusual, so he still had things to prove. However, he eased doubts that the numbers were fluky by hitting .362/.433/.598 with 15 homers in 88 games for Low-A Lexington last year, then .302/.357/.407 in 50 games after a leap to Double-A, skipping High-A entirely. Returning to Corpus Christi this year, he's hitting .332/.412/.511, showing more power.
In 123 Double-A games, Martinez is hitting .319/.390/.468 with 27 doubles, 12 homers, 53 walks, and 88 strikeouts in 451 at-bats. His overall career line at all levels is .341/.406/.543.
A 6-3, 200 pound right-handed hitter and thrower, he's slowed down as he's put on muscle over the last two years, so his speed is now below average and he is not much of a basestealer. He has an average arm but it is good enough that the Astros used him in right field last year, though he's been in left this year. His glovework isn't great but it isn't terrible, either.
Martinez's swing mechanics are unorthodox, but his physical strength and solid plate discipline make it work for him. He's fanned just 46 times this year in 262 at-bats, while drawing 38 walks. He's held his own in the difficult Corpus Christi park (.305/.404/.468) but has been outstanding on the road (.364/.423/.562). All of his components have improved: he boosted his BB% from 7.2% in Double-A last year to 12.3% this year, while lowering his K% from 20.3% to 14.9%. He's been especially hot lately and has the strike zone locked in, hitting .425/.556/.750 with 12 walks and just four strikeouts in his last 12 games. Houston officials praise his feel for hitting and plate discipline.
Martinez turns 24 at the end of August and at this point he doesn't have much left to prove in the Texas League. He deserves a promotion to Triple-A, and if he maintains his momentum there (I expect he will), he will see Houston sometime in 2012.
8 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Thanks for this. Good stuff.
At this point, would you project him to be more of a fourth outfielder/role player or solid regular? Hard to think of too many guys with his skillset that end up starting at an outfield corner.
Any chance he sneaks on to your Top 100 prospect list?
A rich man's Juan Rivera, maybe?
Rivera hasn’t exactly had an illustrious career, but frankly, I think Martinez will hit for a higher average and draw more walks. I can see him as a guy who consistently hits .300.
http://www.crawfishboxes.com
I believe he slumped this year for a bit from some nagging injury. He seems fine after finally going to the DL. I had hoped he would develop more power. It doesn’t look like he will hit HRs. I do believe he will hit for an avg of 300 in the majors and draw enough walks to have several fine years.
I see his hit skills as very good while all his tools are very avg. No reason he can’t adjust and be a regular that peaks for a year or two just below all-star level. Any persisting injury may lower his physical tools too low to play in the majors.
Def a guy I think will have a career.
My first mistake was assuming you knew what I was talking about.
When healthy, his power numbers have continued to improve
He had a nagging hamstring injury and was pretty much a singles hitter for almost a month.
John
The Giants called up Hector Sanchez today. Any chance we could see him on PotD for tomorrow (or Monday, I can’t remember if you do these on Saturday)
Jose Flores: .831 OPS in High-A last year. .529 OPS this year. Ouch.
Co-dad of Ryan Scoma with waelwulf, because we're progressive like that.
for the benefit of the discussion, I'll post a Youtube link to video of him
It’s not mine, but this is what he looks like when I’ve seen him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOEXohop8v8
As you noted, funky swing, but it’s worked for him so far. Very little in the way of extra moving parts, keeps his head locked on the ball, not easy to totally fool this guy. Level and short swing path, does square up the ball very nicely. On the downside, he’s very flat-footed at the plate and I’m not sure how well he’ll get around on the caliber of pitching he’ll see at the highest level.
I think he’ll hit, but there’s not all that much margin for error with him. If you think he’s a 60 contact/50 power hitter, then he’s a starter. Any less than that, with his physical and defensive limitations, he starts looking pretty fringy as a regular and more like a quality bench player. I think I’d go conservative and lean towards the latter for now, with maybe a season or two where his physical conditioning peaks and he plays as slightly above-average overall. Pretty close to what Shamus said, although a little less in the BA department.
"Latin Lumber"
I’m a BIG fan of Martinez.
If the Stros trade Carlos Lee or something like that, I think that it would be cool to see him brought up to the show.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Minor League Ball
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
