![]() His BPs were the best in the entire 2019 Fall League, and he is an exceptional teammate, leader, and worker, who did more early infield work than anyone else in the AFL, willing himself to become a viable left-side defender even though he lacks the traditional grace and fluidity for those positions. We continue to bet big on Lewis’ makeup and physical talent. He was back taking live BP off of Jhoan Duran and others during 2021 instructs, and the Twins put him on the 40-man roster. We have zero idea as to how this new swing will play in games since Lewis tore his ACL in February of 2021 and missed the entire season, basically his second lost season in a row after an injury-shortened 2019. He’s starting with an open stance now, and the angle of his bat as he sets up is also different (more north/south and away from his shoulder), but he still has that excessive leg kick and extraneous noise in the way his hands load. His swing looked the same during 2020 spring training but based on a little bit of video sent by an executive from another team, it appears to have been tweaked at the alternate site. His mannerisms - Nomar-level batting glove tinkering deep, heavy, deliberate breaths between pitches constant uniform adjustment - were manic and seemed to pull focus away from the task at hand rather than ground him in a ritualistic way, and the game often seemed too fast for him. All of this was bizarre in context, as an advanced hit tool was a huge driver of his amateur profile, but Lewis looked like a guess hitter. This also caused him to lunge at breaking balls, which he doesn’t seem to recognize very well. He needed to start several elements of the swing early just to catch fastballs, and was often late anyway. His swing was cacophonous - the big leg kick, the messy, excessive movement in his hands - and it negatively impacted Lewis’ timing. But in Arizona, Lewis still clearly had issues. 353/.411/.565 Arizona Fall League line (he went to pick up reps after an oblique strain during the year) and League MVP award. His overall production slowly came down at each subsequent level, and during a 2019 season split between High- and Double-A, he had a. Throughout his first 18 months as a pro, Lewis had statistical success while being aggressively promoted before a developmental hiccup in 2019. The Twins took him first overall in 2017 and cut a below-slot deal, as Lewis was seen as one of five options in a tightly-packed top tier of talent. ![]() Those comps came from his penchant for on-field leadership, his swing’s finish (though he’s way more pull-oriented than Jeter was), his frame (which is now way bigger than Jeter’s), and his future as a defensive shortstop. To a degree those remain reasonable, though they’re no longer applicable across nearly as much of Lewis’ skill set as they once were. One of the top-billed high schoolers during a superlative year for talent in Southern California, Lewis began garnering Derek Jeter comparisons while he was still an amateur. If anything, Martin’s 2021 season just adds variance to his outlook. ![]() 414 on-base percentage in his pro debut at the upper levels of the minors, so let’s be clear: this is still a very talented player. There are plenty of mitigating factors with Martin, and it might feel like we are unfairly tearing into a guy who put up a. Martin has solid speed and split time between shortstop and center field in 2021, but he lacks pro-level infield skills and his future is likely in the grass, where scouts think he has a chance to turn into a solid center fielder, although his arm is fringy. He’s an exceptionally patient hitter, but sometimes to his own detriment, as his patience crossed that dangerous line into passivity at times, leaving him behind in the count and giving pitchers too much of an advantage. While not a galling figure, it came at the same time that Martin’s power went backwards far more than expected in the transition from metal to wood bats. ![]() A contact machine who struck out just two times over 69 plate appearances during his COVID-shortened 2020 college season, Martin’s K rate ballooned to nearly 20% as a pro. Staying at Double-A as a Twin, Martin continued to be solid but unspectacular, and plenty of questions remain. He performed admirably, but in unexpected ways, and was dealt to Minnesota as the biggest prospect received back in the José Berríos deal. The fifth overall pick in the 2020 draft, Martin was seen by many teams as the best pure hitter in the class, leading the Blue Jays to challenge him with a Double-A assignment to begin his pro career. ![]()
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