Russell Martin, C, Los Angeles Dodgers

August 21, 2006 @ 16:00:00

By Joshua Ellis
Edited by Ryan Dodson

Since many of the fantasy baseball trade deadlines have come and gone, free agent and waiver wire pickups are the only way to make your team better for the stretch run. One player that has been raising eyebrows this season and may still be available in your league is Los Angeles Dodgers rookie catcher Russell Martin. 

Martin was drafted by the Dodgers in 2002 out of Chipola College in the 17th round. He entered professional baseball with the Gulf Coast Dodgers in rookie ball where he hit .286 with 10 RBI. In 2003, he split time between Ogden of the rookie league and Single-A South Georgia, where he hit a combined .276, with nine home runs, 50 RBI and 40 runs scored. The native of Montreal, Canada joined high Single-A Vero Beach for the entire 2004 season and hit just .250, but recorded career highs in home runs (15), RBI (64) and runs scored (74) due to playing as their everyday catcher. 

Although his stats weren't the greatest in 2004, the Dodgers, with current New York Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca entering his sixth season as their starting catcher, wanted to groom their possible catcher of the future, so they moved him up to Double-A Jacksonville. This move was great for Martin's career because in Jacksonville he hit .311 with nine home runs, 61 RBI and 83 runs scored. Those numbers were good enough to have Martin named to the Double-A All-Star team and to Baseball America's Second Team for catchers in the minor leagues. 

This great season prompted the Dodgers to promote Martin to Triple-A Las Vegas for the first 23 games of their season. In the Pacific Coast League, Martin continued to shine as he hit .297 with nine RBI and 14 runs scored. He didn't hit any home runs, but Martin had nine doubles in his 74 at-bats. On May 5 this season, former Dodgers catcher Dioner Navarro was sent to the disabled list for a wrist injury and Martin got his chance as he was called up in his place. Since that day, Martin has been an exceptional catcher for the Dodgers. His continued good play got Navarro sent to Tampa Bay with pitcher Jae Weong Seo for backup catcher Toby Hall and pitcher Mark Hendrickson. 

Martin made his big league debut going 2-for-4 with two RBI. Since then he has been a good source for average, RBI and runs for fantasy owners. This season he is hitting .294 with six home runs, 47 RBI and 43 runs scored. The one rare stat though is Martin's ability to steal bases, which makes him an asset at the catcher position. In his minor league career of just 392 games, which equates to 2.41 major league seasons, Martin swiped 39 bases over that span. This is an average of just over 16 stolen bases per 162-game season. He has continued to swipe bags this season with eight already in 85 games. Also, he has only been caught stealing three times so his success rate is decent as well. At the age of 23, Martin's knees aren't as worn down as other catchers in the major leagues, which gives him the ability to steal bases for the time being in his career. Martin is basically a carbon copy of Oakland Athletics catcher Jason Kendall at the beginning of his career. 

The bottom line is that Martin may still have some stolen bases left in him, so if you're just a few back in that category, stolen bases from a rare source, catcher, may get you over the hump. Martin will also aid your team in batting average. The downside is that Martin doesn't have too much pop in his bat with just six home runs this season, but he won't hurt you in RBI and runs compared to other catchers in the league. So if you are secure in home runs and your team needs a boost in stolen bases, give Martin a look to see if he is available in your league and reap the benefits of a young catcher with fresh legs.

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Joshua Ellis
Joshua has been a KFFL contributor since 2006.

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