Folks, we have to have a conversation about Angel Martinez.
After tonight’s two-run homer to put the Guardians’ ahead of Tito Francona’s persnickity Reds, Martinez has a 125 wRC+ with eight homers and eight doubles. Martinez has a sustainable .290 BABIP. While he as outperformed his xWOBA a bit (.338 to .315 coming into tonight), but he is also third on the team and 36th in MLB in pulled-fly ball rate at 25.2% which generally helps players outperform their expected stats.
Most excitingly, Martinez had a wRC+ of 127 vs. RHP coming into tonight, and 93 against LHP. Up until this season, in the majors, Martinez had a wRC+ around 60 vs. RHP and a wRC+ of 120 against LHP. If he is capable of hitting right-handers now, this is very likely a valuable hitter on a sustainable basis. He’s also stolen 8 of 10 bases and flashed 65th percentile sprint speed, which is another very positive development.
So, why wouldn’t you believe in Angels? Well, he still has only a 4% walk rate and he chases 40% of the time. But, hey, he makes contact with 85% of all pitches he sees. And he has demonstrated the ability to lay off the worst pitches he sees and keep fouling off other bad pitches until he gets one to hit. There is no way to say anything for sure with a player as young as Angel, but I think what he’s doing looks extremely sustainable and he has earned himself everyday playing time at this point.
Angel is still not a defensive standout, but he looks competent in the corner outfield positions, especially, and playable, so far, in center. I have cautioned folks against comparing him to Jose, and I think that his chase rate still prevents exact comparisons there… but I’m done putting a ceiling on this kid. He is so much fun, his smile is so infectious, and I am ready to give him all the at-bats at this point for finally helping this team beat the Reds.
You’ll notice I did put AngelS in the title, and that’s so I can throw in this paragraph about Angel Genao. The Columbus Clippers’ shortstop had a 134 wRC+ so far in Triple-A with five homers and three steals and he added a single and another homer in tonight’s game. Genao has a 19/16 K/BB% which is more than adequate. His 27% chase rate is a little high, but not too alarming and he has only a 7% swinging-strike rate. He has an average exit velocity of 91.7 mph and a 53.1% hard-hit rate, which is amazing. The one knock against him is his 57.3% groundball rate, which is alarming. You can hit the ball 100 mph every time in the bigs and infielders are going to make most of those plays. However, if he can continue to slug homers regularly and take walks, he has potential to make up for it. He looks like someone who is going to be knocking on the door of the big leagues by August… making it a challenge to figure out where he will play. But, shortstops can generally play anywhere (Rocchio being the exception), so we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
I thought Angel Martinez should probably stop switch-hitting. I am so glad to be wrong. I thought he was probably a 4th outfielder who should start against LHP. I am so glad to be wrong. He is one of the most pleasant athletes I have ever had the chance to meet and this start to the season for him is such a delight.
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