Blue Jays: Looking at Orelvis Martinez’s first week in High-A

Orelvis Martinez, the Toronto Blue Jays fourth-ranked prospect, was recently promoted from Low-A Dunedin to High-A Vancouver on August 2nd, with the team playing their games south of the border this year in Hillsboro, Oregon due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Martinez was hitting the ball well at the time of promotion, slashing .279/.369/.572 with 19 home runs, 68 RBI, and a .942 OPS with the Dunedin Blue Jays. He was leading the team in multiple offensive categories such as OPS, home runs, RBI, and hits (79) prior to being moved to High-A ball and was also highly ranked across the entire Southeast league, leading in home runs, RBI, and hits as well as ranking third in terms of OPS. Not too shabby for the 19-year-old.

Defensively, the righty slugger split his time between shortstop (46 games) and third base (12 games), sporting .931 and .813 fielding percentages respectively with 17 errors on the season.

Prior to his promotion, Martinez had also won the Low-A Southeast League Player of the Month award for his play in July.

Toronto Blue Jays top prospect Orelvis Martinez was recently promoted to the High-A Vancouver Canadians roster and has been hitting for power in his first week with the new club.

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So far with his new club, the Dominican product has appeared in six games for the Canadians and currently owns a .174/.208/.478 slash line through 23 at-bats with one double, two home runs, five RBI, and four strikeouts. Martinez sports a .687 OPS in his first week with the club and three out of his four hits have been for extra bases, with his first home run with the Canadians coming in his first at-bat at the High-A level on August 3rd.

On the defensive side, Martinez has five games at the shortstop position with one game as the team’s designated hitter, owning a .938 fielding percentage with just one error in that time span.

Known for his raw power at the plate, it seems that the Vancouver Canadians are getting a full dose of what this teenage prospect is capable of doing at the plate. It might take a week or two for him to adjust to more polished pitching but the average should hopefully rise over the next few weeks as he continues to get at-bats.

The Blue Jays seem pretty intrigued with Orelvis Martinez and his potential, as it was reported by Jeff Passan that multiple teams inquired about the infield prospect at the trade deadline but the club was unwilling to discuss Martinez in any potential deal.

Blue Jays fans will most likely be waiting a few years before Martinez is knocking on the major league doorstep. If he continues to hit well and can stick at the shortstop position or possibly be moved to third base, he does have the potential to skyrocket through the farm system over the next few years.