On Wednesday night, Major League Baseball will hold their annual draft and our beloved Detroit Tigers, thanks to being awful in 2019, have the No. 1 overall pick.
Most believe the Tigers will use the No. 1 pick to select 1B Spencer Torkelson out of Arizona State. Torkelson is a power-hitter who also hits for average and he projects well to the Major League level.
But could the Tigers actually go in a different direction and select Austin Martin out of Vanderbilt?
Jeff Seidel of the Detroit Free Press published a piece on Tuesday that lists 5 reasons why the Tigers should select Martin. Those reasons are as follows, along with comments from Vanderbilt manager, Tim Corbin.
Best hitter in this class
“He’s got great wrists,” Corbin said. “He’s got body control at the plate. He’s very simple in what he’s doing, so he sees the ball for a long period of time. And that’s why he’s able to get the barrel on the ball. He controls his adrenaline at the plate as well as anyone I’ve seen. I just love the kid and he is just self-effacing.”
Tremendous versatility
“I think if he sticks at one position, he’s gonna be a really good defender because he is sure-handed,” Corbin said. “The ball doesn’t come out of his glove. The area that he is going to work on the most is his arm.”
Will develop more power
Corbin believes Martin would have shown more power this season, just as former Vanderbilt star J.J. Bleday did in his junior season, when he hit 27 home runs. He homered twice as a freshman and had four as a sophomore. Bleday was the No. 4 pick last year by the Miami Marlins.
Instinctual player
“He’s as good a base runner as we’ve ever had,” Corbin said. “It just matches his jumps in the field. The only difference between his jumps in the field and his jumps on the bases is he’s got a glove on his hand. That’s it, but they’re the same. His mind is moving before his body. He’s the best at that. I’m not talking about base stealing and he can do that, too. I’m talking about pure base running, one of the most underrated tools in the game.
“I’m talking about moving up bases when other people can’t. And I’m talking about the ability to tag up, the ability to read a line drive and think, OK, that ball is at the ceiling height where an infielder is not gonna catch it. And I’m not gonna wait to see the ball over his head. I see it before it gets to him and I know it’s going over his head. It’s the uncanny ability to read the ball off the bat, and know where the fielders are on the field in order to get that movement before the ball lands. It’s instinctual, it’s different.”
Competitor
“He can do anything you want, because what he does as well as anyone we’ve had at Vanderbilt is compete,” Corbin said. “He competes against the baseball. He keeps it very simple. If the baseball is hit, he’s going to catch it. If it needs to be thrown, he’s gonna throw it accurately. If it needs to be hit, he’s going to hit it. He just plays the game against the ball as well as anyone.”
–Quotes via Jeff Seidel, Detroit Free Press– LINK
