Austin

Martin

Martin will be the biggest beneficiary of Matt Wallner’s demotion, and he should have a chance to play nearly every day until the Twins decide Emmanuel Rodríguez or Walker Jenkins is ready (both are actually on the Triple-A IL at the moment) or wants to give Wallner another chance. Martin’s exit velocity numbers remain weak, but he’s batting .333 anyway, and his 18/22 K/BB in 130 plate appearances is exceptional. As a decent source of batting average, steals and, potentially, runs scored, he’s an option in deeper mixed leagues.

Wallner has really struggled to begin the season, striking out in 37 percent of his plate appearances and forging a .172/.274/.290 slash. The 28-year-old outfielder will get a break with Austin Martin getting the start in right field against Logan Gilbert and the M’s.

Martin plated Brooks Lee with a sacrifice fly off of Brandon Williamson in the fifth inning that got the Twins on the board and pulled them to within a run at 2-1. That would be the extent of their offense. Martin also singled and drew a walk in the contest. For the season, the 27-year-old is hitting an exceptional .325/.500/.450 with a homer, four RBI and two stolen bases in his first 56 plate appearances.

Martin typically starts only against lefties, but lucky for him, the Twins faced southpaws in 11 of 19 games thus far, giving Martin quite the chance to impress. He’s hit .294/.489/.353 through 52 plate appearances. Today’s homer, his third in 428 career plate appearances since he debuted in 2023, left his bat at a season-high 102.6 mph. Unfortunately, there’s probably not much more power on the way, and he might have lost or be on the verge of losing his green light on the basepaths by getting caught on three of his five steal attempts so far. He probably wouldn’t be much of a mixed-league outfielder even as an everyday player.

With left-hander Trevor Rogers on the mound for the Orioles, the Twins will use Martin in left field instead of Trevor Larnach. Martin dealt with a concussion in the spring, but also hit .353/.476/.353 with four steals in 16 games. He likely won’t play enough to be fantasy relevant in most formats, but the speed could be a nice perk. The full Twins lineup is: LF Austin Martin, CF Byron Buxton, 2B Luke Keaschall, C Ryan Jeffers, RF Matt Wallner, DH Josh Bell, 1B Victor Caratini, 3B Royce Lewis, and SS Brooks Lee.

Martin suffered a concussion during Monday’s game against the Pirates, so it’s encouraging news that he’s already cleared to begin baseball activities. It may still be tough for him to be ready in a week for Opening Day, but there’s certainly a chance.

His Opening Day would seem to be in jeopardy. Martin was expected to make the Twins as a fourth outfielder starting against most or all left-handers. Eric Wagaman would be the obvious candidate to replace him as a starter against lefties, but he’s not nearly the outfield defender that Martin is.

This is kind of odd with Martin hitting .295/.382/.372 with five steals this month, but the Twins know he’s sticking around for 2026 and still have decisions to make on other outfielders like Trevor Larnach and James Outman, both of whom are playing tonight.

Martin kicked off the scoring with a run-scoring groundout in the third inning before blowing the contest wide open with a bases-clearing double against Yankees reliever Luke Weaver in the seventh inning.

Martin has batted near the top of Minnesota’s lineup for seven consecutive games since last weekend as his late-season surge continues. The 26-year-old former top-five pick from the 2020 MLB Draft is batting .351 (13-for-37) with nine walks in 12 games since the start of September, raising his full-season batting line to a robust .299/.405/.402 with one homer and six steals across 38 games. He’s a sneaky late-season pickup in deeper mixed leagues for fantasy managers seeking a boost in the runs scored department.