Future Redbirds

Per Brock 20’s request, I’m taking a look at infield prospect Jose Martinez. Martinez was an undrafted free agent out of Venezuela and impressed in his pro debut. In ‘05 he hit .300/.387/.500 in a 150 at bats for Johnson City at the age of 19. That’s a nice display of power from a middle infielder, and he also showed very sound plate discipline, walking 20 times and striking out only 15 times. Derec McKamey, who has formal training as a scout, ranked Martinez the 7th best overall prospect in the Cardinal system at the end of the season.

He earned a spot on the Quad Cities roster, a pretty nice jump up from rookie ball. He hit .270/.320/.417 in 326 at bats, which may be seen as a bit of a disappointment but under the surface there’s still a lot to like. First, his .273 BABIP makes you think ‘bad luck’. He had a good May, hitting .300/.337/.513 but slumped in June, putting up a .221/.290/.284 line in 95 at bats. He rebounded very nicely in July, hitting .327/.379/.514 over 107 at bats. In August he spent 3 weeks on the DL due to a bone bruise on his left foot, and when he returned he could only DH. He was cold, going 6 for 27 for the rest of the season. Throw out June and August, his average would’ve been .297. (He also didn’t have the greatest time at Venezuelan Winter League, hitting only .267/.304/.333 in 75 ab’s for Tigres de Aragua.) Defensively, he showed some impressive range at the second base, his glove was worth + 25 runs above average over 502 innings per minorleaguesplits.com.

Overall, there’s a lot to like about Martinez. Here are his pluses as I see them.

• His contact rate (AB-K/AB) actually improved from rookie ball to low A, 90% to 92%.
• In 476 at bats in the minors he’s hit 14 home runs, and 34% of his total hits have gone for extra bases.
• His BB/K rate over those 476 AB’s is .92, great batting eye.
• Terrific range, strong throwing arm.
• He’s only 21, his ceiling and what he could become is still pretty far apart. Chances for improvement are good.

Here’s the only real negative I see-

• His BB rate went down from 13% at rookie ball to only 5%.

Jose Martinez is still sort of under the radar as far as middle infield prospects go in the Cardinal system, the talk is more about Tyler Greene and Brendan Ryan, but Martinez could go on to have a more effective career then either. But for that to happen, he’s going to have to re-establish his ability to take a walk. With above average power, speed, range and elite contact skills I could see why McKamey thinks so much of him. He has the makings of a solid regular, perhaps better. Of course time will tell, and it’s going to take time. With the Cardinals finally stopping the revolving door at second by signing Kennedy to a 3 year deal, Martinez should be more then ready to take over by that time if all goes well. He’s likely to be the starting 2nd baseman for Palm Beach this year.