ST. PAUL -- During Austin Martin’s first full season as a professional, the 22-year-old hit .270, led all of Double-A with a .414 on-base percentage and capably handled two premium positions: shortstop and center field. But the Minnesota Twins believe there is more there.
Specifically, they believe Martin has more power to tap into. And as Martin prepares to enter his second full season in pro ball, that’s a point of focus offensively while the Twins continue to evaluate him and his best positional fit defensively.
“He looks great. He came in in great shape,” Twins director of player development Alex Hassan said. “He’s in a great spot. We’re excited about where he’s at.”
Acquired by the Twins last July from Toronto as part of the return for José Berríos, Martin spent the offseason training at agent Scott Boras’s Miami facility with a host of other players, including Nationals superstar Juan Soto.
Twins minor league hitting coordinator Bryce Berg paid him a visit for a couple days around December. Later in the offseason, Triple-A hitting coach Ryan Smith also spent time with Martin, the game’s No. 36 overall prospect, per Baseball America.
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“It was pretty much just to kind of see what I was working on, for them to kind of give me little keynotes and, you know, things to build on, stuff that they’re seeing,” Martin said. “It was really just an opportunity for us to connect.”
Recently, the Twins have Martin diving into video from his senior year of high school and freshman year of college at Vanderbilt, where he slashed .338/.452/.414 for the Commodores. From watching, he has noticed that his body was moving “more freely, more athletically,” and he’s working to find that form again.
“When they pointed that out to me, it was more just getting back to that, ust getting back to having that muscle memory. Getting back to having my body move the way that it was before,” Martin said. “So, it hasn’t been anything new, necessarily, it’s just kind of getting back to how I used to move.”
As a sophomore year, Martin hit 10 home runs, a number he hasn’t reached since. A year later, he came out of college as one of the best players in the draft, scooped up with the No. 5 pick by the Blue Jays.
He hit five home runs last season, adding 18 doubles. In an attempt to tap into some of that power, Hassan said the team is working with Martin on “a couple things,” in his swing.
“He does an excellent job controlling the strike zone, has great bat-to-ball skills, he’s really good at hitting for average; and now we’re trying to help him impact the ball with more consistency to produce some extra bases,” Hassan said. “He’s been real receptive to that work. Really excited about where he’s headed on that front.”
While they do that, they’re also evaluating his defensive fit. Hassan said he felt “really confident” in Martin’s ability to play the outfield. Martin’s focus early in camp, Hassan said, will be in the infield as he continues to refine his skills there. While they plan on him getting most of his work at shortstop, Hassan suggested Martin could also see some time at second or third base.
“I look at it as a blessing, to be honest, because it’s something that I didn’t know I could do until I was in college, and I was kind of, I would say, forced to do it,” Martin said of playing multiple positions. “It’s a part of my identity as a baseball player now, and it’s a part of my game.”
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Whatever gets the highly-touted prospect on the field.
“I just like playing baseball,” he said. “So, as long as my name is in the lineup, I get to have a bat in my hands, then I’m good.”
