Leonys Martin and his Rough 2015 Season

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