In The System: Martin's splendid splinter no coincidence

ALTOONA, Pa. -- No two hitters are the same from their approach to their swing to everything in between, and Altoona Curve first baseman Mason Martin is no different. What is different is what goes into his approach, and how he gets there. 

He studies. Not just his previous at-bats or opposing pitchers; he reads The Science of Hitting by Ted Williams. Yes, that Ted Williams. The Splendid Splinter. The Hall of Famer who hit .344 for his career. What Martin has taken away from the book and from studying Williams has translated to the success he's been having at the plate.

"I pretty much just try to keep it simple. See the ball up, swing at the good ones, take the bad ones. You know, just get a good pitch to hit," Martin said. 

That simplicity, just getting a good pitch to hit and taking it, has been one of the biggest things Martin has taken from Williams' book.

"I think that's the most important thing. A guy by the name of Ted Williams kind of taught me that," Martin said. "I've read his book a lot, and that's the No. 1 thing he will always talk about: Get a good pitch to hit, you've got the best swing in the world. But if you're swinging at bad pitches, you probably aren't going to end up ... you're probably not going to happen the way you want to. So it all starts with getting a good pitch to hit."

Martin, a power hitter, has 16 home runs and knocked in 48 runs in 198 at-bats this season, batting cleanup in a lineup featuring Rodolfo Castro and Oneil Cruz. When hitters have the power Martin shows, they can easily find themselves in a position where their swing-and-miss rate is elevated or occasionally their swings can be long and out of control.

For Martin, it takes a continued simplistic approach to hit the ball the way he wants with each at-bat.

"I just try to stay as short as I can to the ball. Some short swing, you know, slow and early load, just make sure I'm under control," Martin said. "And I sometimes have a tendency to get too big and really try to hit balls as far as I can."

Trying to hit the ball hard and hitting the ball hard are much different concepts, and do not always work well together. That can spell disaster for any hitter, including someone who can hit for power, like Martin.

"I think that kind of gets me into trouble sometimes, just trying to get too big," he said. "I just try to stay short, hit the ball hard, hit it hard in the air. And as long as I hit it hard, that's a win."

Being long to the ball or trying to crush it each time up isn't an isolated issue for players in professional baseball. In fact, it's something Martin has been dealing with since he played in Little League.

"Since I was a really young kid, I have always had that problem, I just like to get too big sometimes and really try to crush the ball," Martin said. "My thing when I was eight, nine, 10 years old playing, my dad would say, 'Hey, next time you go up there, just take a short swing, and just try to hit the ball hard.' And usually it ends up working a lot better that way." 

That approach has paid off for Martin, who is having a career year with Altoona as he continues through the organization, but it was a phone call with former big leaguer Travis Hafner that helped catapult Martin to the level of hitter he is now.

"Last summer, we were at the alternate site here in Altoona and John Nunnally, who was the hitting coach, coached him at one point," Martin recalled. " I was at a point in the summer where I was really trying to learn, you know, really just trying to improve my game and I was working with Nunnally a lot, so he suggested a phone call with Hafner."

That conversation seemingly went well for Hafner and Martin, who was a 17th-round draft pick of the Pirates. 

"I was all-in on talking to him," Martin said. "Thankfully, he was gracious enough to pick up the phone. We talked for about 30 minutes. And it just gave me a lot of good nuggets, just a lot of good stuff that I wrote down that was some food for thought, you know. It's sometimes good hearing from different people."

Last season was a time of mjor growth for Martin, despite not appearing in a game or being called up to Pittsburgh

"Starting off with working with Nunnally every single day was awesome. He definitely opens your mind because he played the big leagues, too. And he had a lot of success, as well," Martin said. "He talked a lot about stuff that I had never really thought about when I was sitting before. And it really opened my mind to how to get barrels at different pitches and how to be more adjustable and how to develop a better approach."

The alternate training site was more than just one-on-one time between coach and player. It featured live at bats with some of the top arms in the organization.

"Just facing the talent and the arms that we had here last year. I mean, you look at guys like Max Kranick and Cody Ponce and Blake Cederlind and just up and down every pitcher here last year was a dude, and getting to go against those guys every single day was good experience for me."

Going against the organization's arms also provided instant feedback that Martin or any other hitter wouldn't be able to get if he was in a normal game setting.

"It's the whole iron-sharpens-iron mentality of just competing against each other. But then, after the fact, giving that feedback and making each other better," Martin said. "I think that really also opened my eyes to what pitchers are trying to do to me. 'When I step up to the box, what does that pitcher think of me? And how is he going to approach me?' I think it helped."

Now, armed with the information acquired at the alternate site, Martin is focused on finding the best way to hit the ball and help whatever team he might be on at the time to win games. 

"There's just infinite ways to hit the ball and at the end of the day, it's just about finding what works best for you. And how did you find what works best for you? A lot of trial-and-error, a lot of failure," Martin said. "I think the thing about baseball is you fail so much that you have so many opportunities to learn, because obviously, everybody knows the best hitters in the world get a hit three times out of 10, the elite of the elite four times out of 10, maybe. So there's so much more failure to learn from than success to learn from. It's like you just have to trial-and-error."

Martin undoubtedly will face more failure as he continues to work his way up the ladder in the organization. That's on his mind, but isn't a major focus.

"I've just got to keep taking it day by day. You know, just control the controllable, show up every day ready to go to work. Keep working on my defense every single day. Keep working on my offense every single day," Martin said. "I don't pull the trigger on anything. All I worry about is crushing baseballs and playing good defense and playing for the team, helping them win. So we'll see what happens, but I'm ready for any opportunity."

• On Sunday in Bradenton there was a benches-clearing brawl, Steven Brault rehab appearance and oh, the game got suspended due to inclement weather. It was summed up rather well by Marauders' broadcaster Spenser Smith.

Back to the field, Bradenton catcher Endy Rodriguez is currently in the middle of an 11-game on-base streak during which he is hitting .333. Rodriguez was the lone top catching prospect until Henry Davis was selected with the first pick of the 2021 Draft Sunday.

• Greensboro RHP Quinn Priester was away from the team this weekend and for good reason: He was pitching in the Futures Game to kick off All-Star week festivities in Colorado. Priester pitched the fourth inning and faced three batters, including this strikeout of the White Sox No. 2 prospect Yoelqui Cespedes.

Also in Greensboro, it doesn't look as is Carmen Mlodzinski's shoulder injury is too serious. He will most likely miss a start or two while he recovers from shoulder stiffness suffered during his start on Saturday.

• Outfielder Fabricio Macias was promoted to Indianapolis from Greensboro on July 6 and since then he's picked up right where he left off with the Grasshoppers. He has hit .467 and is in the midst of a three-game stretch with multiple hits, going 8-for-14 during those games.

• We're moving and expanding our rankings section to a separate article. Keep an eye on that.

OFFICIAL LINKS

• Affiliate scores
• Indianapolis
• Altoona
• Greensboro
• Bradenton

YOUR TURN: We'd love to hear from you, too, especially if you make it out to see any of these prospects and affiliates play. Feel free to file your own original scouting reports and other observations in comments.