Two videos have surfaced from Saturday’s performance in which OF Fernando Martinez went 2-for-4 with a double and a homer in an 8-6 Caracas win. In the event you have not seem them, you can view them both below. The first is his third inning double off Jeff Farnsworth and the second is his eighth inning home run off Pedro Liriano.
As Toby mentioned early Monday morning, both hits came off two extremely below-average minor league pitchers. Nonetheless it’s still good to see …
Toby’s Addition:
Those swings are excellent. Check the extension on the first. Note how Martinez goes down and gets the ball on the second on a pitch moving away from him.
I do not want my earlier discussion about the caliber of pitchers Martinez was facing in the VWL to be miscontrued. In no way was I trying to demean Martinez’s very strong winter season. I was mostly trying to provide a context for the level of play in the league – something like a weak AAA. Yeah, the pitchers he faced in that game were not MLB guys, but they are upper minor level guys and Martinez hit two balls hard. That’s simply good stuff.
Fernando was 0 for 3 yesterday and was replaced in the late innings (i hope it was a strategy move).
The home run ball he hit looked like he saw three straight off-speed pitches and was sitting on it.