The first Martin that popped into my head was Martin Lawrence. Bad boys, bad boys. What you gonna do? What you gonna do when they come for you? To be honest, I never really liked Lawrence the movie star. Stand up comedian Martin? Wasn’t the best, but that always got a chuckle from me. After doing extensive due diligence…..typing Martin into Google….I’m truly ashamed of myself. How could I forget the good reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King? He’s my favorite Martin for sure, but you are here to read about baseball. Since catchers are…..my momma said to STFU if you ain’t got nothing nice to say about someone, so I’ll talk about Leonys Martin (32.4% owned – increase of 15.2%). I definitely have a type, as I pimp Brett Gardner too much for anyone’s liking. Anyways, Martin won’t bat for a high average, think .255 range, but he will hit some home runs and steal some bases. The projection systems have him ending with 18 home runs and 18 stolen bases. Not bad. Last season, 24 players in all of baseball went at least 15/15. He’s not a prodigious walker (currently 8.9% but career rate of 6.6%), but the strikeout rate is a manageable 20.3% and the hard hit rate is a robust 38.6%. His position atop the Tigers lineup is favorable. Now, he’s turrable against left-handed pitching, and correspondingly moves down to 6th or 7th against them in the batting order, but he plays and that’s half the battle. Will Martin be a league winner? Naw, but there’s a place for players like him. TREASURE
Brian Anderson (49% owned – increase of 20.4%) has been enfuego in June. .429/.489/.738 slash with 5 doubles, 1 triple, and 2 home runs. He’s been batting 2nd, 4th, and/or 5th in the batting order. There is so much to like about Mr. Anderson. 9.4% swinging strike rate, 19.6% strikeout rate, 24.8% chase rate, and 41.3% hard contact rate. But, but, but….the BABIP is an unsustainable .385 and Marlins park is not hitter-friendly. In addition, he won’t contribute too much in the stolen bases department and the lineup won’t be conducive for runs and RBI. I think Mr. Anderson is a fine player, but expect some regression and….you’ve heard about glass ceilings right? Well, in Mr. Anderson’s case, it’s been replaced with frosted glass. TRASH
All Max Muncy (55.8% owned – increase of 43.7%) does is hit home runs. 4 straight games now and 13 on the season! In 157 plate appearances! Shout out to Paul “The” Martian, who has been touting Muncy for a few weeks now. Paul. My favorite Martian? Anyways, batting average? .277. Walk rate? 15.9%. Strikeout rate? 24.8%. The BABIP is a reasonable .291. The ISO is at .354. If he qualified, only Ma ma ma Mookie Betts (.381) and Mike Trout (.371) would have better numbers. Hard hit rate of 45.7% isn’t shocking, considering he hits a home run every night. Here’s where things get juicy. The swinging strike rate is a paltry 7.7% and he’s only chasing 19.4% of pitches outside the strike zone. Here’s where things get juicier. Muncy is actually better against lefties than righties. wOBA of .485 vs .412. For his career, .429 wOBA vs .322. He’s been entrenched in the two-hole of the batting order. Now, Muncy is 27 years old and there should be some skepticism of a late breakout. The projection systems have him batting .234 with a .190-ish ISO the rest of the way. That’s definitely within the range of outcomes and regression should be expected. But, but, but….stranger things have happened. And the underlying numbers really do look juicy. TREASURE
