Jays' Martinez belts two homers for Fisher Cats

Coming back from some time off, Orelvis Martinez looks like a prospect who put his four-day break to good use.

Baseball’s No. 36 overall prospect homered twice and drove in four runs as part of his second consecutive three-hit game as Double-A New Hampshire held off Portland, 9-7, on Sunday afternoon.

“It’s massive, especially the last three weeks when it’s starting to warm up around here,” New Hampshire hitting coach Matt Hague said of the Minor League-wide four-day break earlier in the week. “He’s so young, he’s still not necessarily used to this strenuous season. It’s just another steppingstone for his development, getting used to it. It’s good to sit back and assess and reassess where he’s at, stuff he needs to learn. He is very openminded and wants to learn and wants to be really good, so I think it’s a good reflection period for him.”

Martinez has played like a man rejuvenated over the last two days. On Saturday night, he belted a homer while adding a double and single, and Sunday was even better. Following a swinging strikeout in his first at-bat, Martinez crushed a solo homer to left field in the bottom of the fourth. Two innings later, he reached on an infield single to load the bases, and in the seventh, the 20-year-old walloped a three-run homer to give New Hampshire the lead for good.

“He’s continuing to learn about himself,” Hague said. “Long story short, I think he’s aware of where his barrel is launching from, especially with fatigue. He tends to be exaggerated from different spots, so it’s just being a little more accurate with the barrel, being a little more simple with some positions he’s moving from. He’s already a really good mover and has some quickness and some acceleration that can’t be taught. He’s just learning about himself. I guess that’s the moral of it.”

Prior to the last two days, Martinez was caught in a 1-for-30 slump and hadn’t homered since a two-homer game on July 6. Toronto's No. 2 prospect now has six hits in his last eight at-bats, his most in any two-game stretch this season.

“The way he launches the barrel, the quickness that he has when he’s in trust mode, he can cover any pitch,” Hague said of the young infielder’s keys. “I think it’s just getting him used to his strengths and continuing to learn the pitches he can’t handle. At the Double-A level, there’s some things that he hasn’t necessarily seen on a consistent basis, so it’s just processing, understanding what teams are trying to do to him. He is very mentally engaged, so I think when he is going really well, he’s using his best traits, his acceleration and quickness.”

Martinez feasted on Eastern League pitching from a power standpoint early in the season, racking up 14 homers by the end of May. Since then, he’s hit just eight but is showing signs of adjusting to new approaches from pitchers.

“Teams see the power numbers, and I think with some of the stuff he’s learning about himself, he just gets a really heavy dose of offspeed,” Hague said. “I guess the point of that is all of his homers [the last two days] have been off of offspeed. He’s continuing to learn how people try to attack him, and he wants to be really good. He’s understanding. He’s so young, he’s learning how upper-level pitching tries to attack him, and he’s putting it forth. He’s applying it.”

Martinez saw his average dip below .200 at the end of his 1-for-30 slide but has boosted it back to .214 with a .763 OPS over his last two games. His hitting coach knows it’s a sign of more good to come.

“We know how good he is already,” Hague said. “You can see it. It’s different when it comes off his bat, how athletic he moves, the quickness he possesses. On the development side, we know what’s in there. I think it’s just better for him confidence-wise. He’s being rewarded for the work and the engagement he’s putting forth trying to get better. We know what he is. We expect him to keep growing.”