Minor League Notes: Payton Martin Emerges As Dodgers’ Latest Draft Find

Image credit: Rancho Cucamonga righthander Payton Martin. (Photo courtesy of Gail Verderico)

As if the Dodgers needed another promising pitching prospect, 19-year-old righthander Payton Martin is emerging as their latest late-round draft find.

Martin, a 17th-round pick out of West Forysth (Clemmons, N.C.) High in 2022, has broken out as one of the top pitching prospects in the California League with Low-A Rancho Cucamonga. The 6-foot, 185-pound righthander is 2-1, 2.24 with 48 strikeouts and 15 walks in 39.2 innings while showcasing a fastball up to 98 mph and one of the best sliders in the low minors.

Martin’s performance would be impressive in any context, but it’s especially noteworthy given his limited pitching background. Martin primarily played shortstop in high school and was committed to East Carolina as a shortstop. He pitched a handful of innings in relief his junior year and made six starts on the mound as a senior, the only starts of his high school career.

The Dodgers, however, liked his arm action and athleticism and drafted him as a pitcher. In short order, Martin has taken to it.

“When I got to the Dodgers, honestly it’s like common sense, but just listening and being coachable,” Martin said. “All the pitching guys, (I’m) just listening to what they have to say and taking it all in.”

Martin’s stuff has improved rapidly with his focus solely on pitching. His fastball has jumped from 91-93 mph in high school to sitting 94-96 and touching 98 this year in his pro debut. His hard, bullet slider sits at 89 mph with sharp, late movement and his firm, upper-80s changeup has improved rapidly to give him an effective third pitch. As important as his pure stuff, Martin has shown a quick arm out of a clean, athletic delivery and the ability to throw all three pitches for strikes.

Most intriguing is the fact that he’s done it almost all on raw ability. Understandably given his limited experience on the mound, Martin is still in the early stages of learning how to actually pitch.

“They haven’t changed anything mechanically,” Martin said. “The biggest thing for me was what pitch to throw and how to read hitters. I still don’t have it down pat, we’re still working on it, but it makes it a lot easier on you.”

The next step for Martin is to build durability. The Dodgers, always cautious of workload with their young pitchers, have limited him to three innings per start for most of the season. Martin pitched four innings for the first time in his most recent outing on July 7. He’s already grown from 160 pounds in high school to 185 pounds now and still has room to get stronger.

The Dodgers believed Martin could be an explosive righthanded pitcher if he gained strength when they drafted him, and it’s happened even quicker than they expected. With what he’s shown already and how much room he still has to grow physically and mentally, there is a growing sense both inside and outside the Dodgers organization that Martin could be a special young pitcher.

“Honestly, I hold myself to a high standard,” Martin said. “You could honestly throw Mike Trout or Shohei Ohtani out there. I wouldn’t really care who is in the box. I just see myself succeeding. because if you don’t see yourself succeeding, you’re not going to succeed.”

STANDARD BALL RETURNS TO SOUTHERN LEAGUE

After using an experimental “enhanced grip” baseball through the all-star break, the Double-A Southern League is set to return to using the standard major league ball when games resume Friday.

The Southern League’s rates of walks, strikeouts, wild pitches and hit batters all increased with the enhanced grip baseballs, which were pre-tacked with a proprietary substance made by the materials science company Dow. The use of the pre-tacked substance resulted in abnormally high spin rates and carry on four-seam fastballs, leading to excessive movement that made it difficult for pitchers to control their pitches or for batters to square balls up. The league-wide batting average dropped 15 points, from .252 to .237, compared to the same point in the season last year.

League	Year	ERA	BB/9	K/9	WP/9	HBP/9	AVG.
Southern	2022	4.67	4.1	9.7	0.80	0.69	.252
Southern	2023	4.63	4.7	10.5	0.92	0.71	.237
Through July 13, 2022 and July 13, 2023
Source: MLB Research

MLB plans to compare the results of the first half with the pre-tacked balls to the results from the second half with the traditional balls.

The other Double-A leagues, the Texas and Eastern leagues, will continue to use the standard minor league ball as they have throughout the season.

RENO’S RUN AT HISTORY

Even by the lofty standards of the Pacific Coast League, Triple-A Reno in the D-backs organization is having a historic offensive season.

Reno enters Friday with a .313 batting average as a team. That would be the highest batting average by any minor league team since at least 1988, the last year data is available.

The last team to bat over .300 in a season was the 2017 Lancaster JetHawks (.308). The last team to bat over .310 in a season was the 2000 Salt Lake Buzz (.312).

What’s particularly notable is Reno is doing it without hitting an inordinate number of home runs. The Aces have hit 88 home runs this year, fewest in the PCL. They lead the league in hits (930) and triples (33) and rank fourth in doubles (199).

Former big league infielders Phillip Evans (.356) and Diego Castillo (.347) lead the club, followed by prospects Buddy Kennedy (.337), Blaze Alexander (.330) and Dominic Fletcher (.325). Outfielders Dominic Canzone (.354), Alek Thomas (.348) and Jake McCarthy (.333) all put up big numbers before being called up to the majors.

MINOR LEAGUE LEADER RACES

There are a few notable minor league stat races to watch down the stretch.

The minor league batting title is coming down to a four-way race between Jacksonville (Marlins) second baseman Xavier Edwards (.368), Indianapolis (Pirates) first baseman/outfielder Miguel Andujar (.365), Norfolk (Orioles) infielder Cesar Prieto (.360) and Amarillo (D-backs) second baseman Ryan Bliss (.358). Bliss and Prieto are also tied for the minor league lead with 105 hits.

There is currently a three-way tie for the minor league home run lead between Springfield (Cardinals) first baseman Chandler Redmond and Salt Lake (Angels) teammates Jo Adell and Trey Cabbage. All have 23 home runs.

Las Vegas (Athletics) outfielder Cody Thomas leads the minors with 79 RBIs. Hartford (Rockies) outfielder Yanqiuel Fernandez is right behind him with 77.

Brooklyn (Mets) righthander Tyler Stuart leads the minors with a 1.55 ERA. Durham (Rays) righthander Jacob Lopez is second with a 1.68 ERA.

Louisville (Reds) righthander Connor Phillips leads the minors with 118 strikeouts. Bowie lefthander Cade Povich (Orioles) is second with 108 strikeouts.