Detroit Tigers unheralded Leonys Martin having breakout season
In a rough season for the Detroit Tigers, Leonys Martin has been a revelation.
There are not a whole lot of positive things going on for the Detroit Tigers this season. Between losing Miguel Cabrera to injury and the firing of pitching coach Chris Bosio for a racial slur over the past few weeks, it has decidedly been a tough stretch for the team.
Plus, the team is 13 games under .500 (38-51) and appear to be in the early stages of a long rebuild. It is understandable why people are focused on the negatives. With that said, this negative publicity has casted a shadow over a glaring bright spot on the team. Center fielder Leonys Martin is having the best year of his career with a revamped swing.
In 306 plate appearances this season, Martin is slashing a commendable .257 AVG/.327 OBP/.431 SLG slash line. This translates to a 107 wRC+, meaning he has produced runs seven percent above the average, which is the best of his career. While this is not jaw-dropping offensive production by any means, it is a significant improvement for a guy who provides tremendous defensive and baserunning value.
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All told, he has been worth 2.3 fWAR thus far into the season, which narrowly edges Nick Castellanos for the team lead.
Before getting into how Martin has transformed himself, it is important to remember that the now 30-year-old was coming off the worst season of his career this year. Last season, he hit an atrocious .172 average and a .281 slugging percentage, pairing with a -0.3 fWAR.
Throughout his time in the MLB, he has proven to be a valuable asset. His defense has made up for his somewhat lack of offense, but even his performance with the stick was always close to league-average. 2017 was an anomaly in many respects but was almost certainly a tipping point. Perhaps it even encouraged the former Texas Ranger to undergo the significant change in swing we are witnessing today.
Whatever it was, Martin has decided to participate in the “launch angle revolution” like a lot of other MLB batsmen. Once upon a time, he was a groundball hitter but has changed to an air-ball hitter this season in a profound way.
His GB/FB ( groundball to flyball ratio) in both 2016 and 2017 was 1.17, hitting more groundballs than flyballs. This season, however, he has dropped his groundball rate precipitously while raising his flyball rate considerably. His GB/FB ratio has fallen to 0.76 in 2018, marking the first time he has ever hit more flyballs than groundballs in a season.
Detroit Tigers
Moreover, 2016 and 2017 were his previous best (low) in terms of GB/FB. There was a time, between 2012 and 2016, when he would consistently run ratios over 1.50 and even close to 2.00.
This is not a minor change, rather, it is drastic. Martin is enjoying a career-high in the following important categories: launch angle (16.7), barrel percentage (11.4%), average exit velocity (87.4), hard-hit percentage (41.4%) and xwOBA (.375) and xSLG (.527). The list goes on because the improvement has been that significant, but let’s stop there for elucidation purposes.
Obviously, he is hitting the ball higher and harder (check and check) but he also has been the recipient of decently poor luck this year. Based on how he has hit the ball, factoring in strikeout and walks, he should be slugging .537 with a .375 wOBA. Instead, he has slugged .431 with a .328 wOBA.
Not only is this spike in offensive output legitimate, but he maybe getting somewhat unlucky. He should be even better than he has been this season. That is a scary thought.
Further, it is not as if he is solely improving by quality of contact. For certain players attempting to hit the ball in the air, their approach at the plate craters. Essentially, they sometimes trade more strikeouts for more power. He not only has avoided this but he has actually become a more disciplined hitter.
He currently is running the best walk-rate of his career at 8.8 percent while simultaneously dropping his strikeout rate to its lowest point since 2014 at 21.9 percent. Meanwhile, he managed to swing at the highest percentage of strikes (74.6 Z-Swing%) and the lowest percentage of balls in his career (29.1 O-Swing%).
It is almost unheard of where a player improves both their quality of contact and plate discipline. I mean, it does happen but usually when it does people talk about it. Martin has quietly transformed himself to an extreme degree that deserves to be paralleled with extreme praise.
He did just recently land on the 10-Day Disabled List with a nagging left hamstring injury, however. Regardless, he should return to action soon and, when he does, expect the same result. Actually, you perhaps should adjust your expectation to an even better version of 2018 Leonys Martin. He has been getting sort of unlucky.
Next: Zimmermann having his best season in Detroit
At the ripe age of 30 years old, do not call it a comeback; it is actually a breakout. With his other tools (defense and baserunning), he has the chance to become one of the better players in the game if he can maintain what he is doing with the bat. For the Detroit Tigers sake, it would be an absolute gift he does.