Austin Martin Has Benefited From the New ABS Strike Zone

Minneapolis – Austin Martin isn’t surprised by his hot start to the season.

He’s leading the team with a .311 batting average and a .476 on-base percentage over their first 31 games. He has benefited from getting plenty of starts against lefties early in the year. However, there’s been another factor that’s simplified Martin’s approach at the plate, compared to his first two seasons.

Major League Baseball’s new automated balls and strikes system, or ABS.

“It makes a huge difference because it’s just a consistent strike zone now,” Martin said. “It’s not really dependent on the umpire and what he’s feeling that day.”

Austin Martin is 3-for-5 with ABS challenges this year, but the challenge system is not a significant benefit. Adjusting to every umpire’s strike zone has been an issue that hitters have faced for over 150 years, until now. Martin is one of the first hitters in the ABS era who can back up the claim that the ABS strike zone has helped his numbers.

“Just kind of looking back at ABs I’ve had in previous seasons, up here especially, I felt like there was a lot of times where I kind of get taken out of an AB just based off of what’s being called and me having to expand trying to cover the umpire’s zone,” he said. “As to now it’s more, I know my zone, and I know what I need to hunt and where things can start for myself, and that plays the biggest difference into my approach and everything with that.”

Martin’s 18-game on-base streak was snapped on Wednesday in the Minnesota Twins' 5-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners. Still, he has continued to work long counts against opposing pitchers. He’s rarely fallen behind in counts, having only done so 16 times. However, when it is a pitcher’s count, he isn’t hitting all that well, with just one hit in those 16 plate appearances.

Still, when it’s a hitter's count in Martin’s favor, he’s arguably Minnesota's best hitter with a .379/.625/.414 slash line in 48 plate appearances when he’s ahead of the pitcher.

“I think the on base, I can’t speak of last year after the trade deadline, but the things that we’ve seen this year is just the ability to grind out at-bats, whether it’s versus righthanders or lefthanders,” said Twins manager Derek Shelton regarding Martin. “He’s just having really quality at-bats, he’s seeing pitches, and he’s swinging at the right pitches, which is really important.”

The quality of at-bats has kept Austin Martin hitting at the top of the lineup each time he’s starting. Where he lands in the order is not all that important to him. He just wants to do what he can to trust his strike zone judgment and help the team get opportunities to score each time he’s at the plate.

“It’s really all that matters is trying to find your role and how you can help this team win ball games, and this is a matter of owning that,” Martin said. “And I’m grateful for the opportunity, especially with how this season started with all the lefties, which allows me to get more acclimated and adjusted, seeing consistent pitching on a daily basis. But I think that’s the biggest thing for me, is always just having that opportunity presented to me.”

The Twins are also expanding Martin’s defensive flexibility in the field. He’s starting to get reps in right field, which he only played once in the minors for eight innings at Double-A Wichita in 2022. He only has a small four-game sample size in right. Still, adjusting to a new position hasn’t been much of a challenge for him.

“I feel good,” Martin said. “It’s just a matter of getting consistent reps and a matter of just getting out there during BP and seeing ball flights. I think I’ve been doing that, and it’s a lot of me just feeling a lot more comfortable out there.”

“He’s done a really good job,” said Shelton. “I think it’s a situation of making sure that we keep him sharp.”

Martin is always getting the start against left-handed starters, and the Twins have platooned him alongside Trevor Larnach in left and Matt Wallner in right against righties. Wallner has a league leading 37.6% strikeout rate, so Martin will likely continue to see more starts against righties and get more playing time in right field over the coming weeks.

Even as he’s hit a small 2-for-12 slump over the last four games, Austin Martin and his manager are confident he’ll continue to be an on-base machine that doesn’t have to second-guess himself on each umpire’s strike zone. ABS has worked well for many hitters, and Martin is just one of the early examples of what an automated strike zone can do for a hitter’s approach at the plate.

“I think the biggest thing is trusting myself,” said Martin. “Trusting my eyes, and I think that’s really correlated a lot with the success, is just really trusting who I am as a hitter and then just going out there and doing it.”