Where in the World is Russell Martin
by Phil Gurnee on May 1, 2009 10:16 AM PDT
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PrintEver since Russell Martin burst upon the Dodger public to take the place of the injured Dioner Navarro in 2006 he has been one of the best players on the team, and a fan favorite due to his skills and enthusiasm for the game. By the all - star game of 2008 it appeared we had the best player at a position in the NL and that hasn't happened often for the Dodgers in this century. I enjoyed his game so much I probably put him on to high of a pedestal.
During the spring of 2008 I mentioned that I thought Russell Martin could be a leading candidate for the MVP. My rational was that Martin was loved by the media, the best player on the Dodgers, and that the Dodgers might win the pennant. At the all-star game Martin was holding up his end of the bargain and I wrote this story about the great tradition of Dodger catchers after watching Martin display his all around skills in the all star game by catching 10 innings in the epic battle.
At the end of July my boy Martin had a triple slash line of 297/393/428 good for a 821 OPS. He had the average, the excellent OB skills, and just enough power to be dangerous. When you throw in the stolen bases he was looking very much like the brilliant young catcher Jason Kendall of 1999. Since that time this is what Russel Martin has done with the bat.
| Split | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | BAbip | sOPS+ |
| August | 103 | 14 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 24 | 0.233 | 0.313 | 0.311 | 0.624 | 0.286 | 67 |
| Sept/Oct | 76 | 17 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 5 | 22 | 9 | 0.263 | 0.43 | 0.355 | 0.785 | 0.284 | 112 |
| April/March | 78 | 10 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 10 | 21 | 0.205 | 0.303 | 0.256 | 0.56 | 0.281 | 50 |
That is not the all - star Russell Martin that garnered the nickname the Golden God over at Dodger Thoughts. He has had 13 XBH in 300 plate appearances. Many thought he simply wore down in 2008 and that was why his XBHs stopped showing up, but is that really the problem? Many have pointed out that he's still valuable because of his plate discipline but other then Sept where is that plate discipline? We snicker at Brad Ausmus but Brad Ausmus could provide just as much offense as Russell Martin has provided over the last 300 plate appearances.
Jason Kendall was the best young catcher in baseball in 1999 when he broke his ankle on July 4th. Many think that was the end of his dominance but he came back from the injury in 2000 to have another great season. Unfortunately for Kendall and his fans it was his last great season. At the tender age of 27 Jason Kendall was done as an elite offensive catcher.
I sure as hell hope this is just a blimp on Martin's journey and not a sign of things to come. When a player is in a deep slump I used to say the deeper the slump the better the munch when they break out. I'm crossing my fingers that Martin will be eating well in the coming weeks.
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Creaming San Diego?
I hope this article will serve as the catalyst for Martin like Bob’s proclamation did for Kuo :)
Psychological
There’s a lot more to it than the physical. Because they’re professionals, the ballplayers are treated for the most part by teams, and by the public, as responsible adults, as I’m sure is how they prefer to be treated. “Just give them a bit of time and they’ll find themselves and will bounce back.” And that’s how it works a lot of the time. But the pressure of being on show, exposed, before millions of fans, with every flaw under intense scrutiny, not to mention booing eventually, must just add almost unimaginable pressure. It’s just not credible that players like Russel Martin, and Andruw Jones, can’t do it any more. But they don’t get to move out of the spotlight for a while to work on things in private, or in AA, like rookies (Macdonald) do. Maybe they need to be treated more like precocious children, not adults. That seems to have worked for Andruw. He’d never be playing like he’s doing now for the Rangers if he were still with the Dodgers. Apparently he has a good rapport with the hitting coach for the Rangers. I bet you anything it’s more the trust and the “handling” than the actual technical advice, that is bringing him back. Martin carried the world on his shoulders for a few seasons. Now he seems lost. It may well have to do with changing expectations – he’s no longer a young prodigy but an adult, with his steady girlfriend and all. Plus so many big stars now on the team overshadowing him. I’d bet that he’d come back more quickly if he could be taken in hand and allowed to work out for a couple of weeks in ABQ. But he won’t be given that chance. He’ll have to do it in the big bowl. Let’s hope he can, and that it won’t actually take the next off-season for him to find his feet again.
I agree with Jones, I’ve always maintained his problem was psychological in combination with a change in his skill set that he wasn’t able to address and then he just couldn’t dig himself out of the hole.
Martin does not look like the Martin of 2007/early 2008 but that could be because he’s struggling and the game isn’t as much fun when you struggle. I would have thought with the addition of Manny and the emergence of Ethier/Kemp that he’d have less pressure to perform. Maybe Mattingly’s method just doesn’t resonate with him as it does with others. I have no clue what the problem is, I just hope it is short term and that April will be his worse month of the season.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Far too soon
plus his plate discipline is still very much there.
I’ll start with that. You note: “but other then Sept where is that plate discipline?” I am not sure I understand the complaint. This year he has an IsoD of .098 – far far above average. If you are not happy with IsoD, then he has a BB% of 11.4%. Again, well above average and only slightly off his career numbers (11.8%), though significantly off his 2008 (14%). Martin’s plate discipline is very good.
This power this year is off, but really, you are looking at 88 PAs. Do you really think Martin has become a true talent .256 SLG or .205 BA? It’s pretty obviously a sample size issue (or an undisclosed injury issue – though his plate discipline speaks against the latter). With nearly 1/8th of his total PAs “in the bank” this year, sure we should adjust downward his end of year expected numbers, but there is no nee to be concerned at this point.
He is clearly slumping. No one could disagree with that. But if you have to choose tomorrow whether to have Martin or Ausmus as your starting catcher, surely you aren’t going to choose Ausmus, are you? That is what I read from: “We snicker at Brad Ausmus but Brad Ausmus could provide just as much offense as Russell Martin has provided over the last 300 plate appearances.” But I think you cannot seriously mean that. Also, btw, Ausmus last 300 PAs show an OPS of .613. Martin is .701. So even in this slump, he is well above Ausmus.
As an aside, the listing of OPS+ on May 1 (or really, any time before the end of the season) is misleading, to say the least. OPS+ is 100*(OBP/lg OBP + SLG/lg SLG -1) AND it is adjusted for ballpark. How can you legitimately consider lg average in May? How can you adjust, reasonably, for park effects in May? You can’t. You were probably just listing it for “completeness” since OPS+ and ERA+ have been widely popularized by b-r.com, but really, they aren’t much use until the season ends.
Far to soon for what? I made no assertions other then putting out the fact he hasn’t been very good in his last 300 at bats. You mean it is far to soon to be worried? That I disagree with, I’m worried that Martin is not the great offensive catcher I had hoped he was. Surely he’s not this bad but my expectations were a catcher with a 280/370/450 kind of line, so yeah I’m worried I"m not going to have the best offensive catcher in the NL to watch day in and day out. Just as I’m sure Brave and Cub fans are worried about McCann and Soto.
No, I’m not suggesting Ausmus start instead of Martin, just pointing out how we have ridiculed the offensive output of Ausmus over his career and after the first month of the season is in the books, Russel Martin is very much Ausmus like with the bat.
Yes the plate discipline is above average but when you have a BABIP of 28% and your still hitting only .200 your plate discipline needs to be way above average to have value and a .300 OBA is not going to cut it. In 30 days this should all be a moot point but until he turns it around I reserve the right to be worried.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Last night on Quick Pitch, they broke down A. Jones swing
And he has changed it completely. From where he holds his bat and now he does a toe tap for timing. When he swings, he remains completely balanced, though I still wonder about his desire to always pull the ball (his HR yesterday was pull shot down the line).
But its true that I think physically, he is in better shape, maybe his knee was bothering him a bit last year too. But he is also got a new swing that is certainly helping him.
Now, will pitchers stop throwing inside and work the ball low and away, perhaps though he has better pitch recognition so far.
And of course
A Jones “fat jokes” are even less funny now, with him actually producing again now that he’s left LA :-(
They were never funny here. I think MSTI had the monopoly on A Jones fat jokes.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Agreed
as I said - “even less funny” meaning beneath the Mendoza Line of humor. ;) Still, I saw “blimp” and couldn’t resist. I will banish myself to the corner now.
As for Martin
I’ve been worried about him, too, though like some of you above am hopeful that he’s just going through a “thing”, and will snap out of it. It does seem partially psychological, at least. He’s pressing at the plate a lot. Don’t know if he needs some hands-on instruction, to see a Gabriel Byrne-lke therapist, some time off, or just to work through it on his own. But I’m keeping the faith.
I’m blaming last year on fatigue and this year on his girlfriend or the change in his jersey.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Unrelated...
I’m still so bummed that Tony Jackson got let go!
2009 LA Kings Hockey: thanks to Joe Sakic's snowblower, WE'RE BETTER THAN THE AV'S!!!!
I said it before & I'll say it again...
Bat Russell 2nd (in front of you know who). Oo la! Slump over. : ) … (btw just for fun, the O-Dog goes to 7th – in front of Casey Bam Bam. to turn those solo shots into 2 run jobs.)
hate to say it..
hey peeps! i hope russell hasn’t gone the same route as loduca and gagne. it seems my boy has fallen pretty fast but im hoping it changes faster than a broxton fastball!!
let the games begin!
What if Martin Needs to be more Aggressive
I think Martin might have gotten too reserved in his approach, and pitchers are starting to adjust to him. The percentage of first pitch strikes to him has gone up(58.1% vs 53.2 last year) and he only has 1 hit on the first pitch (with 7 other outs); he’s also been getting a lot more breaking balls, particularly curveballs (9.6% of pitches vs 6.7%) than previously. His walk rates have been steady, but he has been swinging less, but he’s not always getting good results when he swings less. He’s been swinging less at pitches in the strike zone (57.4% vs 63.1% career), and he’s had worse luck making contact out of the zone (48.1% vs 61.8% career). Further, he’s hitting a ton of infield pop-ups (34.4% in 2009!), to the point that he has more infield pop-ups than XBH!
Now there are three possibilities: Martin could be in a temporary slump (See Jeter, Derek, April 2004), pitcher’s could have figured out how to manipulate his plate patience, or his girlfriend could be a succubus.
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