Jason Martin

WTM’s PLAYER PROFILE

2013
R:  251/357/341, 179 AB, 8 2B, 4 3B, 29 BB, 31 K, 11-18 SB

Martin played center for the Astros in the Gulf Coast League and showed good plate discipline, but only modest power.

2014
R+:  274/363/415, 164 AB, 11 2B, 6 HR, 24 BB, 30 K, 8-14 SB
A-:  222/284/321, 81 AB, 3 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 7 BB, 13 K, 5-8 SB

Still playing center, Martin spent two-thirds of his season in advanced rookie ball, then moved up to the New York-Penn League.  He hit well at the first stop, with good gap power and continued good plate discipline.

2015
A:  270/346/396, 396 AB, 12 2B, 7 3B, 8 HR, 47 BB, 74 K, 14-29 SB

Playing mostly left field, Martin continued to improve slowly at the plate in full season ball.

2016
A+:  270/357/533, 400 AB, 22 2B, 7 3B, 23 HR, 55 BB, 108 K, 20-32 SB

Martin moved up to the hitting-happy California League and suddenly added a great deal of power, at the cost of an increased K rate.  He split his time in the outfield between center and the corners.

2017
A+:  287/354/494, 174 AB, 11 2B, 2 3B, 7 HR, 20 BB, 42 K, 9-14 SB
AA:  273/319/483, 300 AB, 24 2B, 3 3B, 11 HR, 19 BB, 82 K, 7-13 SB

For some reason, the Astros sent Martin back to high A, where he hit pretty much the same as the year before, this time in the Carolina League.  At the end of May, they moved him up to AA, where he put up similar numbers, with a higher K rate and much lower walk rate.  He played mostly in left.  After the season, he was eligible for the Rule 5 draft but was not selected.

2018
AA:  325/392/522, 255 AB, 13 2B, 5 3B, 9 HR, 28 BB, 61 K, 7-16 SB
AAA:  211/270/319, 234 AB, 5 2B, 3 3B, 4 HR, 17 BB, 52 K, 5-9 SB

Martin opened 2018 at Altoona after missing a few games with a minor injury.  He tore up the Eastern League through late June, when he moved up to Indianapolis.  He started off well there, but in August went into a horrific slump, finishing with a .406 OPS for the month.  He showed less patience in AAA but his K rate stayed about the same.  The biggest difference between the two levels was his batting average on balls in play, which was an unsustainable .396 at Altoona and an unrealistically low .261 at Indianapolis.  Of course, the drop in power shows he wasn’t hitting the ball with as much authority.  He had no platoon split on the season.  Martin played a half dozen games in left at each level and otherwise spent all his time in center.  He had only one outfield assist all year.

2019
AAA:  259/312/419, 370 AB, 25 2B, 5 3B, 8 HR, 29 BB, 79 K, 9-15 SB
MLB:  250/325/306, 36 AB, 2 2B, 4 BB, 10 K, 2-2 SB

Martin was slated to open the season at Indianapolis, but he started off with the Pirates due to injuries.  He spent April with them, then headed to Indianapolis until the AAA season ended, except for two games with the Pirates in June.  He struggled much of the time in AAA, especially June, when he had a .587 OPS.  The only month in which he had an OPS above the league average was August, when he hit 299/373/433.  He didn’t at any time show the power he did at Altoona the previous year.  Martin played nearly all of his games with Indianapolis in center.  The Pirates called him up in September, but he suffered a season-ending separated shoulder in his first game.

Martin hasn’t shown the upside of a future starter since getting to AAA.  He may profile better as a fourth outfielder.  He had labrum surgery after the 2019 season; it was initially unclear whether he’d be ready for the start of the season, but by the beginning of spring training he was operating without restrictions.  Martin’s chances of opening the season with the Pirates were low, given the acquisitions of Jarrod Dyson and Guillermo Heredia, but neither of them should be any kind of barrier if Martin starts to hit better.