2011 Indians Top 50 Prospects: #47 Jorge Martinez

Jorge Martinez – Shortstop
Born: 03/29/1993 – Height: 6’2” – Weight: 170 – Bats: Switch – Throws: Right

(Photo: Tony Lastoria)

History: Martinez was signed by the Indians as an undrafted minor league free agent in July of 2009 out of the Dominican Republic. He is a low profile signing from the Indians’ 2009 International class, but they are high on him and he immediately impressed in Instructional League in the fall of 2009.

Strengths: Martinez is a long framed switch-hitter who projects well with the bat. At a young age he has the tools to be a solid hitter and has already shown flashes of his good ability to handle the bat and hit the ball with authority and pound the gaps. He is an average runner, and for a player his size shows good quickness with his feet and a lot of range at shortstop. His plus arm strength is impressive as he fires the ball effortlessly across the diamond. He shows the maturity and moxie of a 20-21 year old at shortstop and just oozes confidence on the field.

Opportunities: There is no question Martinez has the tools to stay at shortstop and the Indians were very happy with his development defensively last year. Most of his errors last season were not a result of him being a bad defender, but instead it was him just learning to play the position since he is very raw and new to organized ball. The Indians would like to see his bat take a leap forward this year. They will continue to focus on getting him to develop a plan when he hits and to improve his plate discipline. Some of this will come from instruction, but a lot of it will have to come by playing and gaining more experience.

Outlook: Though his numbers may say otherwise, Martinez made a lot of strides in his first full year in the organization in 2010. The Indians are very high on him, which should be quite obvious after they had him come play in the states right away and completely skip playing in the Dominican Summer League. He has a good chance to open the 2011 season at Low-A Lake County in a three-man rotation between second base and shortstop with Tony Wolters and Nick Bartolone, though the Indians may opt to instead have him remain in extended spring training to start the season and then go to short season Single-A Mahoning Valley when their season starts in June.

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2010	17	AZL Indians	R	46	190	23	41	5	0	2	21	10	41	3	.216	.256	.274	.530
		MiLB Totals		46	190	23	41	5	0	2	21	10	41	3	.216	.256	.274	.530

Posted in: Jorge Martinez