Martin is hitting .359/.375/.395 with two home runs, five doubles and three triples across 40 plate appearances at Triple-A Indianapolis.
Martin closed the 2021 campaign with a very brief stint at Triple-A Indianapolis, and he was assigned to the level to begin the 2022 season. His surface stats are extremely impressive, but he has struck out at a 30 percent clip and walked only 2.5 percent of the time. In addition, his batting average is inflated by a .480 BABIP. It's possible that Martin gets a look in Pittsburgh at some point in the coming months, but he is not on the 40-man roster and the team has several viable options at first base.
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Pirates' Mason Martin: Heads to Triple-A
Rotowire
Martin will be promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis to close out the season, Jarrod Prugar of DK Pittsburgh Sports reports.
Martin has gone just 1-for-18 with an RBI and a walk across his last five appearances at Double-A Altoona, but he'll progress to facing the top level of minor-league competition late in the year. The 22-year-old slashed .242/.318/.481 with 22 home runs, 75 RBI and 62 runs across 112 games in Altoona this season.
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Pirates' Mason Martin: Continues to mash
Rotowire
Martin went 3-for-5 with his Northeast League-leading 16th homer for Double-A Altoona in Friday's doubleheader split with Akron.
The first baseman is red hot with seven home runs in his last seven games. Martin hit 35 homers in 2019 for Low-A Greensboro and High-A Bradenton, but the propensity for strikeouts has hindered his overall game. Martin's posted a 14:71 BB:K in 218 plate appearances in 2021 with Altoona after striking out 168 times in 2019. Still, the 22-year-old -- who's slashing .273/.339/.613 -- is due for a promotion to Triple-A with a possible September call-up to Pittsburgh.
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Pirates' Mason Martin: Joining major-league camp
Rotowire
Martin will join the Pirates' big-league camp this spring.
Martin isn't likely to push for a spot on the Opening Day roster, but he'll get the chance to work with the team's coaching staff nonetheless. The young first baseman hit a strong .254/.531/.558 with 35 homers in 131 games at the Low-A and High-A levels in 2019, but the canceled minors season last year prevented him from building on that performance.
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Pirates' Mason Martin: Receives spot on taxi squad
Rotowire
The Pirates announced Sunday that Martin will be included as one of 19 players on the team's taxi squad for the 2020 season, Adam Berry of MLB.com reports.
Martin will also be a member of the Pirates' broader 60-man roster pool, thereby making him eligible to see big-league action in 2020. The Pirates are unlikely to turn to Martin barring a rash of personnel losses, however, as the 20-year-old has yet to see any action above the High-A level. The first-base prospect split the 2019 campaign between Low-A Greensboro and High-A Bradenton, slashing .254/.351/.558 with 35 home runs and 129 RBI in 131 games.
Martin is hitting .260/.366/.458 with four home runs and a 34:13 K:BB in 113 plate appearances with Low-A West Virginia.
The bat-only first baseman isn't mashing to the extent he did last year in the Gulf Coast League (.323 ISO, 198 wRC+), but he has still been 38 percent better than the average Sally League hitter in his first month against Low-A pitching as an 18-year-old. He doesn't project to develop into even an average defensive first baseman, so he will need to be an offensive monster to profile as a regular. The top thing he needs to work on is cutting down his 30.1 percent strikeout rate.
