Austin Martin: The Jays Fifth Overall Pick, & The Steal of The Draft

The first round of the MLB draft has officially gone by, and the Blue Jays have made their selection for the future of the franchise. With the fifth overall pick in the draft (the highest for the Jays since 1997), the Blue Jays selected the versatile infielder/outfielder Austin Martin, from Vanderbilt, who is most commonly compared to 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts.

Heading into the draft, Martin was considered the only possible candidate to dethrone Spencer Torkelson from being drafted first overall. Martin is considered the best pure hitter in the draft with great speed and athleticism. He is possibly the best base runner in the draft, and can be used all around the field defensively, despite being announced as a shortstop on draft day. Torkelson was almost a sure thing with the first pick, and Martin was projected to go immediately after with Baltimore at number two. Being widely considered the second best player in the draft, the Orioles left many surprised when they instead drafted Heston Kjerstad, an outfielder from the University of Arkansas. Following Kjerstad, Max Meyer was selected by the Marlins, and Asa Lacy went to the Royals, surprisingly leaving Martin for Toronto.

The Blue Jays went into the draft all in on pitching. Their draft board featured Asa Lacy, Emmerson Hancock, Max Meyer, and Reid Detmers in that order. Martin wasn’t on that list. This isn’t because they didn’t like him, but rather because nobody in the baseball world expected Martin to be available at this point. Shane Farrell, the Blue Jays scouting director said “We were surprised a bit (that Martin was available) but certainly prepared to make that selection. We were ecstatic to have the chance to pick Austin.”

Many Blue Jays fans around the globe were thrilled to see Martin drafted by Toronto. The Twitter universe went crazy, and baseball fans in general were very surprised to see him slip through the first four picks, now being considered the possible steal of the draft. As previously said, Martin is one of the best pure hitters in the class, and his athleticism and versatility only adds to an already great resume. The 2019 college world series champion is known as an extremely competitive and driven player who loves nothing more than winning, and hates nothing more than losing. During his three year college career, he hit for an astounding .368 average, mostly due to his breakout 2019 season where he would hit .392 with 10 home runs in 268 at bats. He is an incredible contact hitter with pop in his bat, and has one of the highest hit ratings of the draft prospects (contact rating) after leading his college conference in batting average, and on base percentage.

Most project Martin to take around 3-4 years to get to the big leagues, but with the Blue Jays hungry for talent at the big league level alongside the core of Vladdy, Bichette and Biggio, a 2-3 year timeline is more likely. Martin will undoubtedly begin the year on the leagues top 100 prospects list, and could be rated as highly as second in the organization (to Nate Pearson). Although being drafted as a shortstop, Martin will most likely transition to the outfield for Toronto considering their talented and youthful future infield featuring Bichette, Biggio, Groshans, and Guerrero Jr. He projects as a future all-star, and will be a great addition for the team for years to come.