Fernando Martinez spoke to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com at the Caribbean Series, and some of his comments lit the Mets blogosphere on fire:
“When [Carlos] Beltran had surgery, I thought I had a chance, and maybe they would give me a chance at center,” Martinez said. “But they get [Gary] Matthews Jr., and now I’m not sure where I am. I just can’t give up.”
“I know I’m a big league player, and I can perform at a high level,” Martinez said. “It’s in my hands, so I have to keep working hard and maybe earn a spot. Maybe I make it to the big leagues with the Mets or maybe another team, but I know I can do it. I just have to keep working and waiting for my opportunity.”
I’m not going to read too much into the quotes, because they read to me like, pretty simply, a confident 21-year-old speaking honestly about his situation. Would anyone prefer it if Fernando Martinez was all, “Did you see me last year? I suck! I don’t deserve to be anywhere near the big-league roster”?
Judging from Mets fan reaction, it seems like many see the comments as just that — appropriate confidence — while others have used them to deem him “the next Lastings Milledge” and other such expletives.
Either way, here are a couple of important things to remember about Fernando Martinez:
He’s still very, very young: We’ve been hearing about him forever, so it feels like it’s put-up-or-shut-up time for the outfielder. But in truth, Martinez was the youngest position player in the Majors in his stint last season, and has been the youngest or among the youngest at his level in every one of his Minor League campaigns. I’d guess a big part of the reason he hasn’t put up huge numbers on the farm is that the Mets have — for better or worse — promoted him so aggressively. A .772 OPS in Double-A, like Martinez posted in 2008, is nothing to write home about. It is for a 19-year-old, though. As John Sickels has pointed out, Martinez would have been a college sophomore last year.
100 Major League plate appearances are not an adequate sample: Sample size. Sample size, sample size, sample size. Now I’m not saying Martinez is certainly ready to produce at the big-league level, but his failures there in 2009 should not be taken to mean much of anything. They’re not a good sign, granted, but they fell so far below his expected Major League equivalency that it’s almost certain he would’ve picked it up at the plate with a little more experience.
Clearly, the biggest concern with the Fernanchise is his inability to stay healthy to this point in his career, not only because it could be a harbinger of more injuries to come, but because, as Keith Law (subscriber-only) points out, it may have already hindered his development by limiting his at-bats.
And I’m not arguing that Martinez shouldn’t spend more time in Triple-A. He almost certainly should. Plus, I’m not sure why I’m bothering to argue against the small contingent of Mets fans who seem to have given up on the guy when I know that, if and when he starts putting up Minor League numbers again, everyone will go back to overrating him as a prospect — as is customary.
But it’s a slow news day and I sometimes feel like I’m the last guy in New York still excited about the kid’s chances. And I’m psyched that, in an offseason that was practically begging the Mets to go out and trade a bunch of prospects in some myopic move, they didn’t.
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