Baseball America – July 02, 2019

65

Vanderbilt’s Austin Martin has
enjoyed a dreamlike sophomore
campaign.
Coming into the College World
Series, the Commodores third base-
man was hitting .410/.503/.610. His
18 stolen bases make him a disruptor
once he gets aboard, and with 38
walks compared to 31 strikeouts he
has proved himself as a competitor
in the box.
In his first taste of CWS baseball,
against Louisville on the opening
weekend of the event, the biggest
stage the college game has to offer,
Martin showed no sign of snapping
out of it.
On the first pitch from lefthander
Reid Detmers, a fastball that just
about cut the plate in half at belt
height, Martin connected for a mis-
sile of a home run well into the left-
field bleachers.

It was a tone-setting home run

for a guy who has made a habit

of setting the tone for the prolific

Vanderbilt offense.

“For Austin to lead off with the

first pitch for a home run is huge and

gives everybody that confidence that

they need,” Vanderbilt righthander

Drake Fellows said.

Fellows was speaking about this

one game specifically, a game in

which Martin would later hit a two-

run home run and account for all of

Vanderbilt’s runs in a 3-1 victory, but

he honestly could have been talking

about what Martin has provided out

of the leadoff spot all season.

Martin’s power surge isn’t a one-

game phenomenon. With two home

runs against Duke in the third game

of the super regional, Martin had four

homers in a two-game stretch, which

also happened to be the two biggest

games of his career to that point.

It might seem like a surprise

that a player who had seven career

homers prior to the outburst against

the Blue Devils found his home run

stroke at this time of year. But not for

Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin, who

compared Martin’s surge with the

jump made by outfielder JJ Bleday.

“It doesn’t really come as a sur-

prise because I think he can get to

the middle of the ball consistently,

just like JJ,” Corbin said. “But JJ in

time learned how to get to the ball

and not have to recruit power, and

because he didn’t recruit power,

then power came to him. And I think

(Martin) is learning that.”

That thinking was echoed by

Martin himself, who downplayed his

power surge.

“I don’t try to think about it too

much,” Martin said. “I try to separate

every at-bat into a different AB. At

the end of the day, you just don’t try

to do too much when you’re at the

plate. The results will happen.”

Perhaps unlocking his power

is just a sign of things to come for

Martin, who continues to improve in

just about every way.

As a freshman last season, he hit a

solid .338/.452/.414. But those num-

bers are now up across the board.

As far as Corbin is concerned,

Martin has made his jump thanks to

his development both mentally and

academically.

“Doing better academically,

centering,” Corbin said. “I mean that.

Development of the brain. It’s the

one reason kids come to college. I

think once you start to understand

routine, you start to understand

mental organization, then you start

to understand what success is, and

it’s just doing a lot of small things

right on a daily basis. And he’s done

that.”

Martin said this type of growth

is what he was looking for when he

decided on Vanderbilt.

“It’s just good to be able to come

here and do school, just try to stick

to my routine,” Martin said. “I’ve

matured a lot as a person, and I think

that’s just something that comes with

learning a lot from coach Corbin, as

well as the rest of the staff. There’s a

lot of upside to coming to school.”

Maybe power is the next thing to

develop as Martin climbed from one

home run to 10.

Martin has already established

himself as a premium pick for the

2020 draft and could have a chance

to be picked higher than Bleday, who

was selected fourth overall by the

Marlins.

It’s probably too much to hope for

a Bleday-like jump in power produc-

tion from one year to the next. Bleday

went from four homers in an inju-

ry-shortened 2018 season to 26 this

year. But given what we’ve seen from

Martin over two years, it wouldn’t be

a shocking development. n

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Martin Makes The Leap

Vanderbilt sophomore Austin Martin

shines on the Omaha stage

by JOE HEALY

Austin Martin’s power surge late in 2019 shared similarities with teammate JJ Bleday’s leap.