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Leonys Martin and his Rough 2015 Season

By Ric Dickens |
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Jul 5, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers center fielder Leonys Martin (2) bats against the Los Angeles Angels during the game at Globe Life Park in Arlington. The Angels defeated the Rangers 12-6. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

On Tuesday, August 4th the Texas Rangers optioned OF Leonys Martin to Triple-A Roundrock, a move many Rangers fans saw coming. Leonys has had a frustrating campaign so far in 2015 and he’s lost his starting spot in center field because of it. So far this season Martin is hitting a putrid .220 with 5 HRs and 25 RBIs. Many Rangers fans were hoping this would be his breakout year after his 2014 season, but he has been arguably the team’s biggest disappointment.

Leonys Martin can be an impact player for the Texas Rangers as he has an incredible arm in center field to go with some impressive range. When he is on base he is able to steal bases and he has shown that he is a top-notch defensive center fielder. So I dove deep into the stat book to see what is wrong with Martin at the dish and what he should focus on in Triple-A so he can help this team in the stretch run!

Next: Timid Approach At The Plate

Jun 13, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers center fielder Leonys Martin (2) hits a RBI single during the second inning against the Minnesota Twins at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Timid Approach At The Plate

 Leonys Martin has always been a lead-off hitter in my opinion, so it makes sense that he likes to work the count and see pitches. After all, that is what good lead-off men do. But I believe that Martin is too good of a first pitch hitter to not do it more often, especially once he was moved down into the nine spot in the batting order.

In 2014 Leonys Martin puts the ball in play on the first pitch approximately 14% of the time. When he did that and put the ball in play, he had great success. When putting the ball in play on the first pitch, Martin was a .347 hitter (25-for-72) with a double, a triple, and a homerun. So far in 2015, Martin is only swinging at and putting the first pitch in play approximately 10% of the time. The sad part is that he is actually fairing even better on the first pitch this year than he did last year! This year he is hitting .367 (11-30) with a double when swinging at the first pitch. Not only is that an improvement from last year, but also it is a drastic one when you consider that he is hitting .220 this year versus .274 last year.

I know he is known to be a lead-off hitter and lead-off hitters are supposed to work the count. But when your confidence is down, you often go up to the plate hoping for something good to happen instead of making something good happen. Because of that, I think Martin is becoming increasingly timid at the plate and swinging at the first pitch less because of that. The first pitch is good for Martin and he needs to take advantage of it more.

Next: Lack of Bunting

Jun 20, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Texas Rangers center fielder Leonys Martin (2) bunts during the fifth inning against the Chicago White Sox at U.S Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

Lack of Bunting

Baseball now a day seems to totally frown upon bunting and I don’t understand why. You see guys have these gigantic shifts that they constantly hit into, when they could just lay down a bunt and take the free base hits they are handing to them. Martin was known to be a willing bunter, someone who would lay down a bunt and let his speed take care of the rest. But this year he hasn’t been so willing.

Bunting for base hits can get hitters out of slumps and more importantly, they can get hitters going. You often hear that hitting is contagious and at the big league level, you’ll take a base knock no matter how you get it. Last year Leonys Martin attempted 36 bunts over 533 PA, or roughly 7% of his at bats. More importantly for Martin, he reached base on 50% of those bunt attempts, collecting 18 bunts for base hits. In 2015, Martin has only attempted to bunt 14 times, or roughly 5% of his at bats. Not only is he bunting less, but he is less successful in doing so as he has only six bunts for base hits which is good for a 43% success rate.

Bunts are easy hits, they get players going and give them confidence heading into the rest of their at bats in the game. It’s a lot easier to relax knowing you are 1-3 instead of 0-3, and for a guy like Martin the ball doesn’t have to go past 20 feet to make it happen.

Next: Too Many Fly Balls

Jun 25, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers outfielder Leonys Martin (2) collides with outfielder Joey Gallo (13) while making a catch in the fourth inning against the Oakland Athletics at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Too Many Fly Balls

 Martin has one incredibly valuable asset that a ton of players in the MLB don’t have and that is speed. In order to utilize that speed, you have to find a way to get on top of the ball and hit line drives and ground balls somewhere. So far in 2015, Martin hasn’t been able to do that.

According to Fangraphs, in 2014 Leonys Martin hit a line drive 21.9% of the time, 50.3% of the time he hit a ground ball, and 27.8% of the time he hit a fly ball. In 2015, Martin’s numbers paint a much different picture. Only 14.8% of the time he is hitting a line drive, 52.2% of the time he is hitting a ground ball, and 33% of the time he is hitting a popup. Two things I really want you guys to pay attention to here. One, he is hitting a line drive 7% less of the time then he did last year and that is certainly a problem. Two, 5% of those balls are turning into fly balls as he has hit a fly ball 5% more this year than he did last year. That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem if Martin was a power hitter, but when you have an incredible asset like he does in his speed, you’ve got to find a way to hit it on the ground more.

Martin is going to have a chance in Triple-A to go down and get some consistent at-bats and I hope that he really focuses on driving down on the baseball again. Hitting line drives more consistently in its own will lead to more base hits, but so will putting the ball on the ground and letting his speed take care of the rest from there.

Next: He's Just Been Unlucky

Aug 1, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers center fielder Leonys Martin (2) and shortstop Elvis Andrus (1) chase down a ball during the game against the San Francisco Giants at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

He’s Just Been Unlucky

Baseball is a cruel game, a game that will humble you, and a game that makes every hitter fail more than they succeed. If it was easy, everyone would be playing it and the challenging aspect of it is why we love the sport so much. But sometimes it can be cruel and in 2015 it has been nothing but cruel to Martin.

According to Fangraphs, in 2014 Martin had a hard hit ball percentage of 25.9%, a medium hit ball percentage of 53.7%, and a softly hit ball percentage of 20.3%. So far in 2015 his numbers haven’t been that much worse, as his hard hit ball percentage is 23.8%, his medium hit ball percentage is 52.5%, and his softly hit ball percentage is 23.8% as well. So while those numbers are indeed down from last year, they certainly don’t account for a .50-point reduction in someone’s batting average.

Maybe the most telling stat that I can give you to prove just how unlucky he has been this year is his infield hit percentage. It’s no secret that Martin is a speedster and infield hits are a byproduct of that. Last year, Martin had an infield hit percentage (the percentage of base hits he got on balls that stayed in the infield) of 8.6%. So far this year, Martin has a infield hit percentage of just 3.7%! That is so incredibly unlucky, especially for a guy with his speed. To put this in perspective for you, Prince Fielder has a better infield hit percentage this year at 5.0%.

Baseball is cruel and it has been nothing short of that to Leonys Martin so far this season.

Next: Recap

Jul 30, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers center fielder Leonys Martin (2) reacts while scoring the game winning run against the New York Yankees during the ninth inning at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Recap

 I like Leonys Martin and I have no doubt that we will see him back in a Rangers uniform sooner rather than later. He is an impact player, one who can surely change the game with his speed and arm in center field. At the very least he’ll be a September call up, but I would look for him to be back in Arlington well before then. Hopefully this assignment will have the same effect that it did on Rougned Odor and he can come back ready to roll.

Next: Cole Hamels' Texas Rangers Debut Resembled The Debut Of Another Ace

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