Pirates pipeline
Big bats coming to life in Class AA, headlined by first baseman Martin
First baseman Mason Martin emerges as the top power threat in Class AA.
Peoples Natural Gas Field has proven itself to be a combustible place for Class AA Altoona hitters this season.
Oneil Cruz slugged nearly .700 during a 22-game hot streak earlier this season. Rodolfo Castro, who’s now shining with the big club, had 15 extra-base hits (including eight home runs) in 24 June games. Altoona is one of only two Class AA Northeast clubs to feature three players with 10 or more homers — and that includes outfielder Cal Mitchell (10) over Cruz (9).
But more than anything the aforementioned players have done, Curve first baseman Mason Martin has established himself as the classification’s best and most productive power hitter, leading all of Class AA in slugging percentage (.612), RBIs (49) and extra-base hits (34) entering Friday’s games.
Only one player has more than Martin’s 17 home runs, while all of these numbers top the Class AA Northeast League.
“I’m staying with my approach really well right now,” Martin told the PostGazette by phone earlier this week. “I’m laying off the bad pitches and hitting the good ones hard. I know it sounds simple, but that’s been the key for me right now.”
What Martin is saying here is fascinating: Although he, along with Cruz, has one of the top power bats in Pittsburgh’s entire minor league system, the pivot point for the 22year-old native of Kennewick, Wash., has been knowing when not to swing.
Plenty of times during spring training, Martin showed a propensity to chase. He was invited to big league camp for the first time, wanted to make an impression and sometimes got a little over-aggressive. It was a perfectly natural way to think and act for a young player looking to prove himself.
But as Martin has gotten more comfortable facing Class AA pitching — the depth and consistency of the breaking stuff has been the biggest difference, he said — he’s been having to stay extra diligent with his approach, knowing that he’s only hurting himself if he tries too hard.
“I’ve always been a really aggressive hitter, so I’m coming up to the plate with the intent of doing some damage every single time,” Martin said. “But I can’t get
over-aggressive because if I do that, it opens up all the chase pitches.
“I can’t get caught chasing bad balls out of the zone because at the end of the day, I could have the best swing, the most power, and I could be the most polished hitter in the world. But if I’m swinging at bad pitches, I’m probably not going to get the results that I want.”
It’s a tough dynamic for a young power hitter, especially one on a team where some of the other big bats are missing. Cruz is hurt, sidelined with right elbow discomfort, while Castro is with the Pirates.
The only one left among the homer-happy crowd mentioned above is Mitchell, but you wouldn’t know it from the numbers Martin has produced coming out of an early-season funk.
In his first 33 games, Martin hit .238 with a .773 OPS, which included eight doubles, two triples, five home runs, 21 RBIs and 21 runs scored. But over the past 23 contests, Martin has hit .333 with a 1.217 OPS. He has seven doubles, 12 home runs, 28 RBIs and 15 runs scored during that stretch.
“When pitchers don’t necessarily want to challenge me in the zone, I’ll take the ones that are pitchers’ pitches and I’ll take the ones that are out of the zone and wait until you get bored of walking me, wait for one over the middle of the plate and try to hammer it,” Martin said. “That’s just the name of the game for me. Luckily I usually have a lot of people on base waiting for me out there, so that gives them a little more incentive to challenge me over the plate. That’s why it’s a team game and a one-throughnine type of deal.”
On the other side of the ball, Martin has also been working hard on his development. A dual-threat quarterback in high school, Martin is a good athlete and projects to be an above-average defender once he reaches the major leagues.
Martin also cares about his defense and spends time working on his throws, mobility around the base, making sure he’s able to pick balls out of the dirt and the little things where a good defensive first baseman can make an entire infield better.
Proof of Martin’s defensive prowess: He’s made just three errors in 54 games at first.
“I’ve definitely been out on the field for early work quite a few times,” Martin said. “I want to be a complete player and a reliable defender in every aspect. Being able to field a ground ball, turn double plays, come off the bag, work around the bag, receive the ball and pick the ball … I just want to be a guy they can counton at first base.”
Although there really wasn’t much doubt, what Martin has done this season has likely cemented his status as the Pirates’ first basemanof the future.
With Ke’Bryan Hayes at third, potentially Liover Peguero and Nick Gonzales up the middle, and Castro and Cruz somewhere — perhaps one as a designated hitter, the other in the outfield — parts of the future have comeinto focus.
It’s also about to change, at least when it comes to who’s playing for what team. Thursday marked the halfwaypoint of the minor league season.Speaking a few weeks back, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said he expected promotions to pick upsteam around this time.
And given how easy Martin has made things look, a bump up to Class AAA Indianapolisseems inevitable.
Martin, of course, said he’s not terribly worried about that. He’s just trying to stay in his approach and keep getting better. It’s obviously been working. He’s also a big fan of what they’ve been able tobuild in Altoona.
“We’re all playing together, and we’re all trying to help each other out,” Martin said. “I like what we have going on, for sure. Hopefully we can continue playing together throughout the minorsand in Pittsburgh.”