How can you keep rooting for a guy that’s hitting just .202?
I’m not sure where to submit this amendment to the baseball community, but I’d like for people to start throwing around a new term. When any players hits a hard line drive right at a fielder, I think the best term to use is “Russell Martining it.” While the words “line out” is descriptive enough to let you know that the ball was roped to some fielder, it doesn’t encompass that deep aching pity you have in your gut because that hitter just can’t buy a hit.
AP Photo/Chris O'Meara
With a 19.9% linedrive rate, a 48.7% groundball rate, and a 31.5% flyball rate, there is no logical reason that Russell Martin should be BABIPing .211. Looking deeper into the numbers, he’s batting just .623 on linedrive, and .138 on groundballs. Compare this to a .709 career average on linedrives, and a .224 average on groundballs. I’ve mentioned countless times before how unnatural a drop like this is, especially when you consider one of the slowest players in baseball, Jose Molina, has a career .194 average on groundballs. For Martin, it boils down to small sample size and a bad luck season.
Over the past few weeks, it seems like the whole team had been “Russel Martining it”. This offensive slump has been one of the worst I’ve seen in my lifetime. The Yankees desperately needed a win last night, and guess who came through? The one and only Russell Martin had two huge go-ahead hits, a 2 RBI double and a solo homerun. The guy is still hitting just .202, but with games like this, he just became a little more lovable.
The truth is, Martin can’t rescue his 2012 statistics, the amount of games left just isn’t enough. It’s a disappointing reality for a guy who was looking at his first big shot at free agency, and was in talks with the Yankees for an extension last season. But all is not lost Russell. Aside from Wade Davis last night, who was tearing everyone apart, Russell Martin looked great batting 5th in the order. If he finally gets that hot streak he’s been waiting for all season, he can rescue the Yankees in September.
It’s his last hooray in pinstripes if you ask me, but you can’t find a bigger stage than playoff-threatening September games in New York. A hot streak, similar to how he carried the Yankees in April of 2011, would most certainly bring him back into extension consideration when looking at his competition. It could save his season, as well as the Yankees’, so lets all start rooting for Martin again.
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17 Responses to Russell Martin Can Still Be Saved
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TIQ IQ
Sure there is. He was making poor or no contact for the better part of the first half of the season. Yes, luck is involved in baseball and It’s quite possible that Russell Martin has had more than his share of it. But it’s simply not credible that a guy can be that unlucky for that long a time period. It’s really not complicated – Martin was hitting very poorly for the majority of the season and now he’s starting to turn it around. Perhaps his luck has improved some but he’s also swinging the bat a lot better (like last night).
Also, when considering the “bum” factor, one should recall it was reported around the allstar break that his back was hurting. That may explain an impaired swing quite a bit, weaker than usual grounders. Last night, the night of his batting heroics, I think I noticed him cringe a bit as he was deftly blocking a particularly twisty outside dirtball with a man on third.
This guy has been squeezing his nuts all year to do everything he can. He’s a great ballplayer, and fans should appreciate that.
Yep, Martin is a gamer. I’m very happy to see him behind the plate rather than Stewart (OK, that’s not setting the bar real high but he’s been the only alternative) especially now that he’s hitting the ball better. Good point on the back injury I’m sure that had a lot to do with his bad numbers.
What are we hoping for, if his luck turns good? He hasn’t been so much as a league-average hitter in 4 years. That might be acceptable for a great defensive catcher, but can the Yankees do better than that?
The only real options to replace Martin right now are to either go with Austin Romine, who lost most of the year to back injury, and is batting .213/.296/.393 in his 71 PAs in AAA. Overpay in years and money for a soon to be 36 year old AJ Pierzynski. Or go with some combination of Gerald Laird, Wil Nieves, Ronny Paulino, Kelly Shoppach, and Yorvit Torrealba. All of whom are part time catchers at best, and the youngest of which is 32.
There likely is no better upside option than Martin, it will all come down to price and what the Yankees value behind the plate.
Hey, T.O., how goes?
I don’t mean now. I mean after the season. There’s a decent argument for bringing him back, but I don’t think expecting him to be even a league-average hitter should be part of the calculus.
Not bad, how you been?
I was talking about after the season. All those guys are free agents after the season. They’re the best of the best without team/player options, if you don’t count Mike Naploi, who I 100% believe the Yankees won’t even think about.
When will Romine be ready? Are you willing to give Martin 2 years?
Oops, just read your answer below.
I personally don’t believe in Romine, for next year at least. Coming into the season I thought he needed a full year of AAA ABs to have a shot to compete for next years job, but he lost out on that with the back injury in ST. He’s clearly over matched with the bat badly right now. I have no faith that he could even be better than Martin right now in that respect. I also think Martin is better behind the plate right now when healthy all around, though some may think differently, or not care about defense at catcher.
It’s really a tough spot, Martin has been far below what I expected/hoped for. I don’t want Romine handed the job, I wouldn’t be confident with a 36 year old Pierzynski on what would likely be a 3 year deal, and the other guys are all part timers.
They may just end up going with Romine and a guy like Shoppach just to be cheap for the budget.
If someone, Romine or Sanchez or some FA after 2013, would be ready for 2014, I wouldn’t mind grabbing a veteran guy willing to sign for one year. I agree Przwhatever for 3 years is a bad deal.
In the old, prebudget days, they could have taken Mauer in a salary dump.
I just don’t see a single veteran who is a starting catcher available. You’d likely be platooning one of the free agent catchers with Cervelli or Romine. But it’s likely the cheapest option, so I think that’s the direction they head unless Martin is coming cheap on a 1 year deal.
Could they have? At this point Mauer has played 65 game catcher and 61 games between 1B and DH. Not exactly a catching solution.
You must be a young man. You probably didn’t see the Yankees of the late 1960s and early 1970s where for the most part this stretch of games would be an offensive explosion.
But you’re right, he’s been extraordinarily unlucky this year. And if the law of averages is what it is, he may be due for a rather nice run. And what better time than now.
Plus, he might be worth bringing back on another one year deal, buying time for Gary Sanchez to develop. Martin’s a good catcher and he’s a better hitter than the numbers currently show.
Gary’s probably not going to be ready for another two seasons. He just made it to A+ this year and he’s still shaky behind the plate. I imagine he needs close to a full year at both AA and AAA before he’d be capable of competing for a starting catching job.
Though maybe Romine could take over for 2014 and give way to Sanchez in 2015.
I think with the 2014 ‘salary cap’ looming, we certainly won’t see more than a one year contract, and then go with kids in 2014 to save money. As fans, we can’t really know how well a Catcher handles Pitchers, My guess is Cashman will talk to CC and the gang and see if they feel Martin is ‘above average’. If your staff all like a guy more than others, thats a reason to keep him.
Considering he’s busted out the Thurman Munson comp, I think Cashman views Martin as above average.
T.O.–Mauer at half his games at catcher would be a significant improvement.
Sure he would, but taking on that contract you’d have to think further than that. Even if he’s playing 78 games a year at catcher, then you have a log jam at DH with Mauer and Arod NEEDING that time just to get on the field. Plus with Teixeira how much time is Mauer really getting at 1B? So then Mauer is seeing 70-80 games at DH a year at age 29, 30, 31.
Even if they didn’t have a budget I doubt they would have tried to take on Mauer, he just doesn’t fit with the pieces we are committed to long term.