Austin Martin Is Inching Closer To A Return

St. Paul – It may come as a surprise to many Minnesota Twins fans that Austin Martin has only played in 15 games this season. The rookie utility player has been battling his way back from the same injury he’s suffered twice this year, having pulled his hamstring in two separate games.

The first came on April 10 when Martin was chasing down a ball that fell onto the right-center field warning track. Then, a few weeks later, after the Saints activated him from the injured list, he reaggravated the injury in the first game back. Martin was only 10 feet from scoring St. Paul’s first run of the game when it happened, and had to limp his way to home plate to score the run.

“On that play, it’s first and third, shortstop kind of made a bad throw, took the catcher off the line,” Martin recalled following Sunday’s 8-3 Saints loss. “So once I saw him go up the line, I tried to slam on the brakes. And right when I tried to slam on the brakes, I fell to the ground.”

What was originally a four-week setback turned into an additional seven weeks for Martin on the IL. While on his first rehab, Martin said that he didn’t have too many running drills where he went from full sprint speed to an immediate stop before the game on May 6. That was one thing on the rehab side that he believed could have contributed to suffering another hamstring injury.

Given how the shortstop threw the relay to the catcher, and Martin slamming on the brakes as he did to avoid a collision. The play itself was conducive to a hamstring injury, regardless of what happened during rehab.

“He was ready last time,” said Saints manager Toby Gardenhire.

“We did all the protocol stuff, it was just kind of a weird play and an unfortunate deal. But we ran him, [Martin] ran the bases, we did reactive stuff, which is exactly what we do when we think guys are about ready to come off, and then it just happened again. So it was too bad the last time, but we went through all the stuff again.

“He’s ready to go, and we’re just going to keep him rolling.”

Fortunately for Martin, his hamstring hasn’t had any nagging pain for the last month, and it was a clear indicator he was ready to go on a rehab after seven weeks without game action.

“Yeah, it feels good,” he said. “I feel like I’m still getting my legs under me a little bit. I haven’t had any issues the last almost a month in terms of my hamstring. I’m feeling good now, it’s just more about getting the reps and kind of just getting more comfortable out there.”

Martin has only been playing in games for the last week. This time around, the Twins front office has him continuing his rehab process when he rejoined the Saints on June 26. Before that, he played in three games with the Twins FCL team, going 2-for-11 at the plate.

As is the case for any hitter returning from the injured list, Martin is still working on his timing against pitchers at Triple-A. Fortunately, he’s only a half step behind where he needs to be with his swing. On Thursday, he drilled a home run to left field on the first pitch he saw after his return.

“I feel good. Didn’t really get too many ABs down there in Fort Myers, so it was more so for me to just get more comfortable in the box,” said Martin. “I mean, I feel good where I’m at with everything, but yeah, it’s more so just a matter of getting more ABs right now.”

“It’s never going to be perfect when you haven’t had at-bats in a long time,” Gardenhire said. “That’s why we have spring training, so these guys can get at-bats before they’re ready for the season, but he’s doing a good job. He’s seeing pitches and having good at-bats as he always does, and he’s putting some good swings on it.”

Martin played in his first full nine-inning game of his rehab plan on Sunday, and sometime during St. Paul’s road trip to Gwinnett, he’ll check off his last boxes of playing back-to-back full nine-inning games. Over those next two games, he hopes to get his timing on his swing built back up stronger, but knows it might still take some time to build up before it’s back to mid-season form.

“Yeah, I think it’s getting better,” he said. “Every day it’s been getting a little bit better. I think it’s more so just a process, just understanding it’s not going to come today, it’s not going to come tomorrow night. It’s more so just being in the box every single day and getting to see live pitching again is going to make the difference.”