Pittsburgh Pirates Top 30 Prospect Rewind: Mason Martin

As we continue our Pittsburgh Pirates Top 30 Prospect rewind, we will take a look at the number 19 ranked prospect in the system.  He had a breakout year.

The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Mason Martin in the 17th round of the 2017 MLB Draft.  At the time, no one would have thought that the Pittsburgh Pirates 17th round pick would become a Top 20 prospect.  However, Martin has put together a really solid minor league career and this year broke out as one of the top power prospects in baseball.

The left-handed first baseman Martin has always shown plus power.  Across 2017 and 2018 he hit 25 home runs along with 54 extra-base hits in 143 total games.  This, of course, was for the Pittsburgh Pirates rookie-level teams which play short season schedules.  Really these numbers were pretty impressive overall.  Martin actually finished the season tied for the South Atlantic League home run title.

This year, Martin got his first taste of full-season action.  He started the year and played games for The Greensboro Grasshoppers.  Martin put on an absolute power display for the Grasshoppers, belting 23 home runs along with 19 doubles and three triples. Overall he had a .262 batting average and a .361 on-base percentage to go along with his .575 slugging percentage. The advanced numbers have Martin with a 164 wRC+ along with a .313 ISO, meaning that Martin is hitting for power and helping the offense create runs.

After 82 games in A ball, the Pittsburgh pirates decided it was time to promote Martin to High-A Bradenton.  Martin ended up playing in 49 games for the Marauders, though he saw his numbers dip after the promotion despite still putting up strong power numbers.

In the 49 games that Martin played for the Marauders, he only hit .239 with a .333 on-base percentage.  However, he did hit 12 more home runs to give him a total of 35 on the season and totaling 129 RBIs between the two levels.

One area that Martin will need to improve is his strikeout rate.  In A ball Martin struck out 29 percent of the time and he saw that number climb up to 32 percent at High A.  Still, he had a .290 ISO and a 135 wRC+ showing that he is still driving the ball and creating runs.

Martin is 20 years old and will not turn 21 until next year.  With only playing 49 games at High-A and showing some red flags, he will likely start at that level next season.  Still, Martin should be able to make Double-A sooner next year which could put him on track to be with the Pittsburgh Pirates at some point during the 2021 season.