Walker Martin SS. DOB: 2/20/2004. B-L, T- R. 6' 2", 188 lbs. Drafted 2023 Round 2.
2024(ACL): .229/.413/.382, 6 HR, 4 SB, 21.2 BB%, 37.6 K%, 189 PA.
2024(A): .202/.358/.333, 3 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 17.1 BB%, 46.3 K%, 123 PA.
Martin is purely an upside play here. He's got great size and athleticism as a former 2-sport star in HS. He's behind the curve development-wise due to lack of strong competition in HS and a late start to his pro-career apparently due to injury. So far a high walk rate is negated by an astronomical K rate which limits his game power due to extremely low contact rates. The upside is he still has 3 years of development before he must be added to the 40-man roster or exposed to the Rule 5 Draft.
Doc, based on your commentary >Why did Farhan draft him in the first place?
ReplyDeleteI know > hard to know why Frahan did anything, but your thoughts please.
Richard in Winnipeg
The high ceiling is real.
DeleteHis defensive numbers look horrible.
ReplyDeleteI guess patience is a virtue > hopefully this year he shines brighter.
Richard in Winnipeg
Like I said, he's behind the development curve but has 3 years before he is Rule 5 eligible which is roughly the make or break timeline I look at.
DeleteI do think 2025 is a really important year for Martin. He needs to show improvement in his contact rates and start to find some traction on his pro career.
DeleteMartin was a national high school home run leader and he was signed to an over-slot deal. He's had a lot of errors in pro ball so they're probably going to move him off of SS.
ReplyDeleteIf they keep Josuar De Jesus Gonzalez in the middle infield, this could be a very interesting year for prospective shortstops in the Giants’ system. Hopefully, they’ll have options as Adames ages and not wind up flat-footed like they did when a successor to Crawford was needed. (Although to be fair, they did rebound pretty nicely by signing Adames after Luciano just couldn’t cut it at SS on the big league level.)
ReplyDelete