6 Blue Jays prospects who improved their stock with a hot month of May

Toronto Blue Jays v New York Yankees - Rainer Nunez
Toronto Blue Jays v New York Yankees - Rainer Nunez | Julio Aguilar/GettyImages
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Orelvis Martinez – Jays MLB Top Prospects ranking #4

One may be surprised to find Orelvis Martinez on this list because, after all, he currently is ranked fourth on the Jays top prospects list and have been in the top five the past three years as well. The main reason is because Martinez was coming off a disappointing minor league season in 2022 from a growth and development perspective. Despite displaying strong power numbers with the Fisher Cats with 30 home runs and 76 RBI in just 118 games played, he had struggled quite a bit at the plate with hitting consistency as he hit only .203 and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of almost 3.5:1. He was profiling towards MLB players such as Mark Reynolds and Joey Gallo, famous for being a hitter with “three true outcomes”.

His poor hitting habits continued into the first month of 2023, as Martinez struggled mightily, hitting only .089 with only five hits, but surprisingly still managed three home runs and 10 RBI. Many were beginning to worry if his hitting mechanics have regressed to a point where it would prevent him from ever becoming the highly-touted prospect with untapped potential he was expected to be. Luckily, Martinez was able to produce a more consistent, solid month of May to help quash that worry for the time being by batting .236, with an OPS of 1.010 to go along with 18 runs scored, 11 home runs and 24 RBI. More importantly, he has cut down his strikeout-to-walk ratio to about 1.5:1 and has been generating more hits that weren’t just “all or nothing” home runs. Positive signs point toward Martinez in beginning to turn the corner, which bodes well for his future as he intends to be a productive, star-potential MLB player.


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