Pittsburgh Pirates Minors: 2021 An Important Season For Mason Martin

Pittsburgh Pirates first base prospect Mason Martin has grown into a very powerful prospect, but 2021 will be an important season for his development.

One of the main focuses of the Pittsburgh Pirates right now is developing their prospects. Developing their prospects into MLB caliber players will be the way the Pirates get back into contention. One noteworthy prospect the Pirates have in their system is first baseman Mason Martin, but 2021 could be an important season for the slugger.

Martin was drafted with the Bucs’ 17th round selection in 2018. Despite his late selection, he’s blossomed into a notable prospect. The lefty slugger started his career off by hitting .307/.457/.630 with 11 home runs, a wOBA just south of .500 at .491 and wRC+ approaching 200 at 198. While this was in just 166 plate appearances, it was nonetheless an impressive stretch at Rookie-Ball. Not only did he mash the ball, but he walked at a 19.3% rate.

Martin struggled during his first long look at the professional level. He ended up posting a .722 OPS and .324 wOBA between Rookie-Ball and Low-A. Martin still walked at a fantastic 13.6%, but strikeouts became an issue as he struck out in 33.7% of his plate appearances.

So far, 2019 has been his best season. Through 556 plate appearances between Low-A and High-A, Martin hit .254/.351/.558 with 35 home runs, 32 doubles and a .389 wOBA. Martin also managed a wRC+ above 150 at both levels with a 164 mark with Greensboro and 155 mark with Bradenton.

Martin obliterated the baseball. His average exit velocity was 91 MPH while having a hard hit rate of 47%. That’s similar to the likes of Nelson Cruz and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in 2020 and D.J. LeMahieu, J.D. Martinez, Eloy Jimenez, Trevor Story, Mookie Betts, Ronald Acuna Jr., and Anthony Rendon in 2019. Plus he was one of just 10 minor league players to have at least 300 at-bats and an isolated slugging percentage above .300 throughout the 2019 season.

He continued his ability to draw walks at an eye-popping pace, taking a free base in 12.2% of all his plate appearances. But strikeouts continued to plague the slugger with a strikeout rate above 30% once again at 30.2%.

Defense isn’t a major issue for Martin. Despite being a big, 6-foot, 220 pound slugger regulated to just first base, he can field the position at an average to slightly below average level. MLB Pipeline gives his fielding a 50-grade while FanGraphs projects it as a 45-grade tool. Overall, it’s still a massive improvement over the Pirates former first baseman Josh Bell.

But the issue is strikeouts. Strikeouts have been on the rise throughout baseball, but a strikeout rate above 30% is unsustainable if you want to be a good hitter in the major leagues. Since 2015, there have been 24 batters with at least 1000 plate appearances and a strikeout rate of 30% or higher. Of those 24 players, 14 of them have a wRC+ below 100, and only one has a wRC+ above 120, that being New York Yankees’ MVP caliber outfielder Aaron Judge. Even then, most of the batters who do have a wRC+ of 100 or higher are inconsistent like Miguel Sano, Domingo Santana and Eric Thames.

If Martin wants to lock down being the first baseman of the future for the Pittsburgh Pirates then he needs to decrease his strikeout rate. Long term, a strikeout rate above 30% does not age well. Next year will be an important year for Martin. He’s looking to string together his second straight productive season, but needs to show improvement in his strikeout rate in order to legitimize his chances of being one of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ long term power bats.