Martinson Named Carolina Lg. Batter of the Week
Weekly award season has begun for the minor leagues, and Potomac SS Jason Martinson was among the inaugural winners as the Carolina Batter of the Week for the period of April 4-14.
Martinson hammered out a line of .303/.429/.788 with seven extra-base hits, including four HR’s and 11 RBIs. The RBI mark is currently tied for the league lead while his nine runs scored in ten games played is tied for second, one behind teammate Billy Burns.
The 2010 fifth-rounder out of Texas was ranked as the #14 Washington prospect in the 2013 edition of the Baseball America Prospect Handbook and (far less prestigious)is a three-time member of this website’s watchlist.
The Nats lost two players in last year’s minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft. The Red Sox took Jack McGeary who appears to be in Red Sox XST — from what I can tell. I’m wondering if the Nats could get him back via the Triple-A draft rules, which I’ve googled to find but haven’t had any luck. Are teams required to keep players selected in the Triple-A phase of Rule 5 on their AAA roster; or, if not, offer him back to the prior team? If so, McGeary eventually should be on the PawSox roster for X amount of time. Any thoughts?
Players that are taken in the minor-league phase are gone for good. The “AAA” and “AA” names are misnomer, as they do not require that the player has played or will play at that level in either the year prior or the coming year.
Martinson is a player that has repeated this level more than once now? How is it that he continues to be considered a top prospect at age 24 which isn’t really age appropriate for A+ ball?
Martinson finished 2012 at High-A, and is thus repeating the level this year for the first time. Yes, he’s 24. Yes, he’s old for the level. But he is still one of the top prospects for the organization because the organization skews older thanks to its collegiate focus the past four drafts.
As Brian Oliver would say, not all #14’s in the BA book are alike. I, of course, can’t stand the bickering of enumeration, which is why I do a watchlist instead of rankings beyond the obligatory Top 10 lists that folks have asked for.
I am partial to the older players who keep giving it their all in pursuit of the dream … but of course? 🙂
Still, at this point shouldn’t he at least be in AA given his offensive performance? Even Souza has made it that far. Is Martinson’s defense that poor? It doesn’t look like he is blocked by anyone all that significant in AA?
His defense has actually improved from what I saw last season, but I have to think it’s the strikeouts that’s holding him back. Not entirely or primarily, mind you — we’ve definitely seen in baseball everywhere that K’s are more tolerated — but I’ve also seen him struggle with offspeed stuff, particularly the changeup. I like Martinson as a player, but that’s what I’m watching for: fewer K’s and to get the bat fat on a secondary pitch.