Blue Jays: Russell Martin’s ice cold start a mirror of 2015

The Blue Jays’ All-Star catcher has barely registered a blip on the radar in 2016, following a very similar path to his start one season ago

Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista have carried the Toronto Blue Jays offence through nine games. Last night, even number nine batter Ryan Goins played a starring role.

On the other end of the spectrum lies Russell Martin, who owns a batting line of .077 / .107 / .077 through eight games and 28 at-bats.

Troy Tulowitzki is in a similar position to open the year, but an opposite-field RBI single in the eighth should help to break the elite shortstop out of his early-season funk. Now with a .125 average, Tulowitzki also has a home run earlier in the year and four walks.

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Martin? A single walk and no power to speak of. Thankfully for the Canadian catcher, his leash is a little longer with Blue Jays fans and media. Perhaps some of this has to do with Tulowitzki being the “newer” Jay, still needing to prove his worth after a quiet 2015, and much of the softened criticism can be attributed to Martin’s defensive excellence taking off the edge.

These struggles are an outlier for Martin. Not simply because he is a strong player, but the way in which he is struggling does not align with his game.

If Justin Smoak is struggling because of strikeouts, fine. Such is to be expected. But Russell Martin struggling with strikeouts and not creating on-base opportunities is not something that fits within his game. And with this, it’s something we can expect to quickly return towards a norm.

Martin is not a slow starter when looking at a career-length sample. His April OPS and Slugging Percentage are both above his full-season averages, but in 2015, Martin gave Jays fans their first taste of what they’re seeing again currently.

Through his first eight games last season, Martin struck out 11 times (he’s done so 12 times this season), going just 1-for-24 at the plate. A handful of walks were able to give him a .250 OBP out of the gates, but essentially, Martin was a hole in the lineup.

Then, expectedly, it changed.

Game nine of the 2015 season saw Martin launch two home runs agains the Atlanta Braves, and over the remainder of the month (12 games) he hit .297 / .447 / .649 with more walks (10) than strikeouts (7).

Perhaps this suggests that Martin’s hitting eye at the plate is what he’s waiting on. That on-base tool has long been one of his strongest offensively, with 50+ walks in each of his last five seasons and a career OPS of .351 (including a .402 OPS in 2014 with Pittsburgh).

Regression strikes early for catchers, and through the coming years of Martin’s rich contract, that’s a conversation to grow familiar with. In this small scope, though, Martin is just waiting for liftoff. If 2015 is any indication, it should be right around the corner.