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Adopted Fernando Martinez

MFS62 Jul 25 2006 07:05 AM

Signed as an international free agent, he was just seventeen, if you know what I mean. He showed so much promise that the Mets started him out at full season Hagerstown in the SAL. He started off strong, then was injured for a while. But this is what this week's Baseball America's hot sheet has to say. 3. Fernando Martinez, of, Mets (Low Class A Hagerstown He misses more than a month with a sprained knee, and comes back to go 9-for-17 in his first four games to raise his season line to .345/.402/.514 in 148 at-bats. You can almost hear the Mets fans singing, "I remember long ago another starry night like this, in the firelight Fernando." Well, maybe not. But it would be funny if you could. Welcome to my family, kid. Later

Benjamin Grimm Jul 25 2006 11:12 AM

We should give MFS62 some kind of a Mia Farrow award.

Edgy DC Jul 25 2006 11:35 AM

Does she forget who she's adobpted?

Benjamin Grimm Jul 25 2006 11:40 AM

I think Woody Allen forgets who she adopted.

Edgy DC Jul 25 2006 11:42 AM

Has she adopted three of the top four --- and five of the top ten --- orphans in the orphanage?

MFS62 Jul 25 2006 11:43 AM

Huh? I looked and didn't see him listed. Maybe it was on the pre-crash board? I'll look again. If I spot it this time, I'll delete this thread and add today's update there. Later

Edgy DC Jul 25 2006 11:50 AM

It's Pelfrey you had forgotten.

MFS62 Jul 25 2006 11:55 AM

[quote="Edgy DC":yu24i1vm]Has she adopted three of the top four --- and five of the top ten --- orphans in the orphanage?[/quote:yu24i1vm] But, unlike Woody, I didn't marry any of them. LOL! Lessee, I have Martinez, Mike Pelfrey, Henry Owens and Carlos Gomez, as well as Anderson Hernandez (Is he still in the top ten?), Chase Lambin (recently demoted to AA) and the "wrong" Enrique Cruz. And, as someone noted at the time, my adoption of Gomez was ground-breaking. He was the first Latino child adopted here. And nobody (or few folks) had heard of Henry Owens. If they had made the movie, would I have been played by Spencer Tracy? http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0029942/ Later

Edgy DC Jul 25 2006 12:04 PM

Lessee, I have Martinez, Mike Pelfrey, Henry Owens and Carlos Gomez, Three of the top four in there. as well as Anderson Hernandez (Is he still in the top ten?) Last time people were publishing the lists. Certainly at the time. , Chase Lambin (recently demoted to AA) and the "wrong" Enrique Cruz. And, as someone noted at the time, my adoption of Gomez was ground-breaking. He was the first Latino child adopted here. No he wasn't. And nobody (or few folks) had heard of Henry Owens. Sure we had.

MFS62 Jul 25 2006 12:12 PM

Edgy, if you can find it on the old board or if it was archived, I remember someone (Scarlett?) commenting about my adoption of Gomez. I'm not sure if he was the first, but I remembered the comment. The thread about him here was restarted after the crash. As for Owens, some may have heard about him, but I saw enough in his potential to actually adopt him. Later

Edgy DC Jul 25 2006 01:41 PM

http://p079.ezboard.com/fthecranepoolforumfrm30 It was commented that a lot of others have adopted white players, which doesn't make Gomez the first Latino. As for Owens, some may have heard about him.... Which runs against what you're claiming above. The idea wasn't initially to recognize talent (knowing who the top ten prospects are is as easy as pie) and squat the best prospects, forget about them until they are promoted, and then congratulate ourselves, but rather to seek out interesting stories, follow them as closely as we can, promote their cause, and root perhaps for longer shots who are otherwise toiling in relative obscurity. That certainly doesn't mean we should stay away from top prospects, only that we've served little by gobbling up guys getting a broad range of coverage as it is. More information about one or two prospects serves more than less information about five or six.

MFS62 Jul 25 2006 01:58 PM

I said "or few folks". If you knew about him, I'm happy for you. But he wasn't on most of the pre-season top 25 prospect lists. And his conversion from catcher, his pre-med studies and his 100 MPH fastball I believe qualify him as........, what was that you said? Oh, "interesting story". Later

MFS62 Aug 09 2006 07:30 AM

Game 1 of DH: 2-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HBP Game 2 of DH: 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 3B, 1 HR Through his first 5 games w/ St Lucie, 20 AB, he's hitting .350/.381/.850 Pretty decent... Later

MFS62 Sep 02 2006 02:12 PM

He's now below .200, but his peripherals are still good. Seems like he's hitting the ball, but the hits aren't dropping in for him. He's 17 and he has played in a lot of games this year. Maybe its just fatigue setting in. I still love ya', kid. Later

Rockin' Doc Feb 11 2007 06:53 PM

The scouts are very high on your boy MFS62. 02/09/2007 1:32 PM ET Mets prospect climbing to big leagues Fernando Martinez a future star for the Mets? By Michael Saflino / SNY.tv Baseball Analyst The most untouchable player in the Mets organization, and among the most untouchable in all of baseball, celebrated his 18th birthday last month. While most young men his age were completing high school, outfielder Fernando Martinez honed his skills as a professional in the low Minors, progressing ultimately to high A-ball and then spending the early part of the offseason as the youngest player in the Arizona Fall League (AFL). At a minimum, he's a top 25 prospect right now. But many Minor League analysts have him higher. John Sickels, Minor League maven for RotoWire.com and author of the well-respected Baseball Prospect Book, has him at No. 17. Keith Law of Scouts Inc. and formerly of Baseball Prospectus and the Toronto Blue Jays, has him slotted at No. 6 overall. He's the youngest player on all these lists, making his consensus ranking more remarkable because younger players are much tougher to project. "Martinez doesn't look or carry himself like a teenager and had no trouble against Double-A and Triple-A pitchers in the AFL," Law wrote recently on ESPN.com. "Plus glove in center as well." Sickels says Martinez projects right now as a regular, and possibly a star. "There is still enough uncertainty about Martinez to keep him out of that very elite category. I rank Martinez at number 17, so you can see that I do like him a lot. He was very impressive to watch in the AFL." The numbers for Martinez in the AFL as well as in the Minors last year don't pop out at you. But there's more there than meets the eye; far more when you adjust for Martinez's age. In A-ball last year, Martinez sparkled with a .333 average and .505 slugging percentage (.388 average on balls in play). Once promoted to St. Lucie, Martinez hit just .193, but he had five homers and 11 extra-base hits in his 119 at bats. His isolated power (slugging percentage minus batting average) was a sparkling .194. Also note that Martinez's average on balls in play (not including homers) was just .198, about 110 points below average. So, he seems to have hit in tough luck after his promotion. Then, in the AFL, he started out 1-for-18 but then finished 21-for-69 (.304) against some of the better pitching prospects in baseball, most considerably older and with experience at higher levels of the Minor Leagues. Martinez's prospects as a future center fielder appear uncertain. Law thinks he can handle the position, but Sickels has his doubts. "(He's a) corner outfield in the long run," says Sickels, who also maintains a blog on MinorLeagueBall.com. "A lot of scouts think he will lose speed as he gets older, hurting his range. He has enough arm strength and accuracy to play right field." It might seem silly to worry about center field with Carlos Beltran still more than capable and not yet 30. But when Beltran's current contract expires in November 2011, Martinez will still be only 22. Baseball America says that Martinez right now is the best hitter for average and for power in the organization. So, where might he hit in the lineup? "Given his age I think he projects minimum 20-homer power, and possibly 30-35," Sickels says. "We need to get more data to be sure. He needs to improve his plate discipline, but given his age and his performance so far I am optimistic about his chances to fully develop his talent." Including the AFL season, Martinez had 26 walks against 77 strikeouts last year in 398 at bats. Martinez will likely be in the Majors before his 20th birthday, which is where things get really exciting when assessing a prospect's future. Only a handful of players get promoted at such a young age. Even Jose Reyes beat this deadline by just one day. Dwight Gooden was 19 his entire fabulous rookie season. Ed Kranepool actually made his Mets debut at age 17 in their inaugural season. Kranepool's early struggles, famously characterized by the newspaper headline, "Is Ed Kranepool Washed Up?" which appeared when he was 19, is a cautionary tale for many observers. Sickels says, "If the decision was up to me I would stick him in advanced Class A (St. Lucie) and leave him there all year. But what will the Mets actually do? They tend to be aggressive about promoting prospects, and they've shown a willingness to push Martinez very fast. My guess is that he'll start off in advanced A-ball but end up in Double-A fairly quickly if he does well." Double-A is the likely acid test for Martinez this year, which would put him on track to make his big league debut sometime in 2009. But how do we measure success in Double-A for Martinez? "Given his age, if he posts an OPS of even league average in Double-A, (Mets fans) should be very, very happy." If Martinez does arrive at Citi Field in 2009, he'll join a rather short list of phenoms. There are a bunch of Hall of Famers on the list of boy wonders who began their careers as teenagers: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Tris Speaker, Walter Johnson, Eddie Collins, Rogers Hornsby, Harry Heilmann, Herb Pennock, Freddie Lindstrom, Mel Ott, Jimmie Foxx, Bob Feller, Hal Newhouser, Early Wynn, Al Kaline, Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson and Robin Yount. As was the case with Kranepool, however, an early promotion doesn't guarantee greatness and may even hinder it. Outfielders Willie Crawford, Tony Conigliaro, Rusty Staub and Bob Kennedy, first basemen Phil Cavarretta and catchers Del Crandall and Ed Kirkpatrick fell varying degrees short of projections (though Staub was an All-Star and Conigliaro suffered a terrible beaning that basically amounted to a career-ending injury). More recently, Ken Griffey, Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Ivan Rodriguez, Andrew Jones and Adrian Beltre all were regulars at age 19 (though A-Rod's first season was cut short by the 1994 strike). Clearly, players who advanced early in recent years have fared very well. Perhaps pushing the most precocious young players into competition against older players not only in the Majors but throughout their professional careers teaches them the most important lesson: how to overcome failure. "It think it depends on the player," Sickels says. "Some guys need to be pushed, some guys need to be coddled a bit. The Mets think that Martinez is a guy who can be pushed. And they are probably right about that. But just in terms of baseball skill, a guy like Martinez who has some problems with strike-zone judgment sometimes suffers as a hitter if he's pushed too fast before he learns to control the zone."

MFS62 Feb 11 2007 07:58 PM

Thanks, Doc. Later

MFS62 May 17 2008 02:56 PM

My kid had been starting to heat up after a slow start at AA. http://www.baseballamerica.com/statisti ... l_id=83967 But he has had a hammy pull, and has been put on the DL. Not expected back for another two weeks. He has had each of his seasons interrupted by injuries. Time to look for a new Pediatrician. Later

MFS62 Jul 12 2008 05:53 AM

He has been named to the Futures Game, and will be the only International player to be mic-ed up . My boy has a future in broadcasting? Later

Rockin' Doc Jul 13 2008 04:26 PM

Fernando played CF and went 1-2 (single) in the futures game today. Hopefully, he will keep developing and eventually become a fixture in the Mets outfield before too long.

Benjamin Grimm Jul 13 2008 05:28 PM

He's not really hitting for a lot of power. Had he been projected as a slugger? Maybe the home runs will come as he "fills out" but his numbers so far don't look like what you'd typically want from a corner outfielder. Everyone seems to agree he's good, but what kind of a major leaguer are they projecting him to be? If he were to replicate his Binghamton numbers in the majors, he'd be a nice player, but not the superstar we seem to be salivating over. Someone tell me why I'm wrong about this...

AG/DC Jul 13 2008 05:57 PM

Most projectors expect the power to come.

Frayed Knot Jul 13 2008 06:43 PM

[quote="Benjamin Grimm":3b2ah3rq]Everyone seems to agree he's good, but what kind of a major leaguer are they projecting him to be?[/quote:3b2ah3rq] That's still up for debate. And even though that's kind of always the answer for players so young, it's probably even moreso with him seeing as how: - he was signed so young to start with (barely 17 and barely dressed) - has now missed big chunks of his last 2 seasons with injuries (broken hand, hamstring) - and that they've pushed him so quickly. He'd still be one of the handful of youngest players in his league even if he were still in A-ball Some scouts do expect the power to come although some predict more of a 1 or 2 hitter type. The other potential problem is that most don't see his glove playing in CF and his arm might not be good enough for RF which means the bat is that much more important if he's going to be confined to LF.

Frayed Knot Jul 13 2008 09:00 PM

... and now on the heels of today's 'Futures Game', BP's prospect guru Kevin Goldstein chimes in: Fernando Martinez put on a show in BP and pulled a single through the 3/4 hole in the game. Health as much as talent and performance is going to determine his arrival time in Queens, but when you consider the Mets‘ holes in the outfield, “2009″ seems like as good a guess as any. I think he’s become something of an underrated prospect. iow; FM received a bunch of hype due to the initial high signing bonus from a NY team plus his advanced league at a young age that a number of scouts and touts began to pull back and start trumpeting the negatives to the point where, if he stays healthy and gets more repititions, his talent will come out and maybe make those doubters seem like they were under-rating him.

MFS62 Jul 14 2008 04:37 PM

[quote="Benjamin Grimm":2c3175wq]He's not really hitting for a lot of power. Had he been projected as a slugger? Maybe the home runs will come as he "fills out" but his numbers so far don't look like what you'd typically want from a corner outfielder. Everyone seems to agree he's good, but what kind of a major leaguer are they projecting him to be? If he were to replicate his Binghamton numbers in the majors, he'd be a nice player, but not the superstar we seem to be salivating over. Someone tell me why I'm wrong about this...[/quote:2c3175wq] Initially, I tend to agree. I see him developing into an Al Oliver type of player .300 - 20 - 95 in his first few years(up to the age of, say 25). But Bill James has written that power starts to develop when a player reaches the age of 26/27. And that comes through pitch recognition and knowing what he can/ can't hit. Later