Expectations of Eleven: Fernando Martinez

[Edgy MD]

Jesus Fernando (Alvarez) Martinez



Pos: RF, CF, LF; BL-TR

Born: October 10, 1988 in Rio San Juan, Maria Trinidad Sanchez, Dominican Republic, on a day Kirk Gibson broke your heart. He'll be 22 in 2011. (Martinez, not Gibson.)

Acquired: Signed by the New York Mets as an amateur free agent, July 11, 2005.

Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	BB-Ref WAR	FG WAR	Pos
St.�Lucie	FLOR (A+)	4	16	15	1	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	.267	.313	.333	.646		5	0	0	0	0	1			CF, LF
Buffalo	IL (AAA)	71	287	257	39	65	16	0	12	33	1	0	17	65	.253	.317	.455	.772		117	4	8	3	2	0			RF, CF, LF
Total	Minors	75	303	272	40	69	17	0	12	33	1	0	18	67	.254	.317	.449	.765		122	4	8	3	2	1
NYM	NL	7	22	18	1	3	0	0	0	2	0	1	1	5	.167	.273	.167	.439	24	3	0	2	0	1	0	-0.3 (-0.2 Off)	-0.2	LF, RF
Total	All	82	325	290	41	72	17	0	12	35	1	1	19	72	.248	.308	.431	.739		125	4	10	3	3	1

Wife: Unknown. but, you know, he's still a baby.

Nickname: "F-Mart," "Fartinez."

Namesakes: This guy, who loves his dogs.



Best Day in 2010: It's hard to search archives of minor league games, but I'm pretty sure he had a game-winning walkoff homer in 2010.

What do you expect of Fernando Martinez in 2011?

[smg58]

He'll have a good season in AAA, but Duda gets called up first and it will take multiple injuries/trades to see him in Flushing before September.

[Fman99]

He's Alex Escobar redux.

He gets dealt for help at the All Star break after having a moderately successful start in Buffalo. Then he's never heard from again.

[Theoldmole]

Starting to lose faith in him. I guess I predict he won't contribute significantly.

[Edgy MD]

Escobar, smescobar. He's been compared to Escobar for too long. We'll see. Belief is that his legs will never be the same, but that he still has the potential to be a slugger with an arm.

Escobar had one great season in low A. Good for him but he wasn't particularly young, and he had a catastrophic injury the next year --- playing only three games --- and was never much again.

Martinez had always been young for his leagues and holding his own, but never getting a chance to star, but at the top levels, the injuries started accumulating. Yeah, they're both Latin American outfielders --- one Venezuealan and the other Dominican --- but let's try and broaden our frame of reference a little bit. At the age Martinez is now, Escobar hadn't even debuted for the Mets.

[ashie62]

Gets considerable time with the big club in RF filling in for Beltran and playing ahead of Duda.

250 AB 10 HR 40 RBI .255

[Edgy MD]

I like that. It wouldn't save the season, but it'd be a nice little breakthrough for a 22-year-old with injurious seasons of late.

Both he and Duda are lefty batters with harsh splits, so I think the first callup will depend on whether they need somebody who can play center. Martinez doesn't project there any longer, but he can apparently still hack it when needed.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I don't know what to think about this guy. 2011 could easily be the year that he breaks through, or it could be the year that he makes himself irrelevant. I'll take the safe course and pick something in between: Solid season at Buffalo, 150 plate appearances with the Mets, .260 batting average and 5 homers. In the unlikely event that the Mets are buyers around July 31, he's one of the more likely to be traded.

[Guest attgig]

new management sees a need to change their philosophy. he starts off in AAA, playing RF and getting regular rest because of his injury history. Because of the more than usual rest in Buffalo, he stays healthy but isn't able to get consistent with his stroke or put up great numbers.

he does ok, showing flashes of power that made scouts over hype him when he was younger.

even though others are getting called up, front office refuses to bring him up to NY because of past woes. finally gets called up in September giving him 3-4 starts a week. He finally starts showing some consistency and all of a sudden, the mets have a logjam in RF.

[Lefty Specialist]

Snags the plum Raymond Burr role in the re-make of Ironside.

[G-Fafif]

The oldest 22-year-old since Tanya Tucker.

[Ceetar]

Has a _killer_ AAA season through Mid-July and is part of the blockbuster trade Sandy makes to bring in the final piece of the championship puzzle.

If he's not traded, we'll see a bit of him in September, late, 8 AB, a hit.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I have no clue at all. It kind of makes me sad to think about it.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: I have no clue at all. It kind of makes me sad to think about it.

Same here.

[metirish]

I'm reminded of Freddie Adu when I think about Fernado , I'd hate to see him with a similar career path.......Adu by the way joined a Turkish second division team today.....if Fernando is the oldest 22 year old Adu is the oldet 21 year old ever.

[Vic Sage]

Escobar, smescobar. He's been compared to Escobar for too long... ... but let's try and broaden our frame of reference a little bit.

ok, lets...

1st & 2nd round OF prospects drafted by Mets over the last 20 years:

2008 (2) Javier Rodriguez
2003 Lastings Milledge
2001 (2) Alhaji Turay
1998 Jason Tyner
1996 Robert Stratton
1994 Terrence Long
1994 Jay Payton
1992 Preston Wilson
1991 Al Shirley

...not a list that inspires confidence in this franchise polishing a gem in Fartinez.

[Edgy MD]

Well, he wasn't a draftee, but a foreign free agent. He'd be as readily or more readily comparable to foreign free agent outfielders scouted by Minaya --- Sammy Sosa and Juan Gonz�lez on one side, Tsuyoshi Shinjo and Timo Perez on the other, and Ruben Mateo and Endy Chavez somewhere in the middle. (Conclusion: Shinjo would have been awesome if he took some steroids.)

But what makes him interesting to me here (and hard to find comparisons) is in being a five-tool player in the minors whose legs aren't expected to be there anymore and has to tell his story by slugging. It's going to be an interesting test of the guy. He's got to do some hard work, and make some hard decisions, but take it easy enough to give a listen to his knee when he has to. It'll be a tough corner to turn (without cheating).

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Shinjo did take sterioids, I think.

[Edgy MD]

Well, then, epic fail.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

If you told me he'd been GHB-ing himself or taking bumps between at-bats, I'd buy it.

[Edgy MD]

Paul O'Niell, 1987, adjusted:

84 games, 7 homers, 26 RBI, .247 / .320 / .475 // .795.

That'd be alright. Don't know if he does it as a Met.

[Edgy MD]

Kablammo!

[Lefty Specialist]

I bet he gets called up tomorrow.

[TransMonk]

This is the third season in a row that Martinez has made a major league appearance. He is still the 8th youngest man playing major league baseball in 2011.

Sometimes it's easy to forget how young this dude still is even though it seems like he's been hangin' around forever.

[Ceetar]

TransMonk wrote: This is the third season in a row that Martinez has made a major league appearance. He is still the 8th youngest man playing major league baseball in 2011. Sometimes it's easy to forget how young this dude still is even though it seems like he's been hangin' around forever.

Hmm. I'm trying to figure this out, I think I'm correct but I'm not exactly an expert on this.

I think Martinez is out of options next year. That seems like it's a huge deal.

The rule seems to state that you're on optional assignment if you are on the 40 man, but spend 20 or more days in the minors. It states you can have a fourth option year if you have less than five years of pro experience, but Martinez started in 2006, so this would be his 6th season. (unless it counts 'service time' and the injuries help him? It seems to imply just years)

If that's the case.. He's been a top prospect and will only be 23. There would be no way he could clear waivers. Probably should bring him up to see where he's at, ability wise. (which is what I'm writing my blog post about, which is what prompted this)

[Ceetar]

Looks like 2009 probably didn't count. He went right on the DL instead of back to the minors after being added to the 40 man. At least, DePodesta said in some interview somewhere that he has another year.

[bmfc1]

F. Martinez is back on the DL. Shocking!

[Ceetar]

bmfc1 wrote: F. Martinez is back on the DL. Shocking!

Should've brought him up, never would've happen.

or something. What was it this time?

[ashie62]

This time it is from the waist up..a wrist..

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/minorleague/mets_prospect_martinez_on_dl_again_3Yy9tDSl3h2nCWNvudjP6I

[Vic Sage]

In a more compassionate world, he would just be put down.