Bisons' Martinez crushes 469-foot grand slam
TORONTO -- Orelvis Martinez has the power to hit baseballs where they aren’t supposed to land. The Blue Jays’ No. 2 prospect launched a Statcast-projected 469-foot grand slam in the 10th inning Wednesday for Triple-A Buffalo, tilting the game late to give the Bisons a 12-9 win over Columbus, a
TORONTO --
The Blue Jays’ No. 2 prospect launched a Statcast-projected 469-foot grand slam in the 10th inning Wednesday for Triple-A Buffalo, tilting the game late to give the Bisons a 12-9 win over Columbus, a Guardians affiliate. The ball soared over the left-field bleachers at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio, cleared the concourse and crashed onto the patio of a second-story bar.
It’s incredible to see a ball travel that far off such an effortless swing, but that’s Martinez’s gift.
Outside of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Martinez has the best raw power in the organization. You’d have to go back to 2021 to find a deeper home run hit by a Blue Jays batter -- 470 feet by George Springer -- and Guerrero has never touched that number. Martinez was 0-for-4 entering extras, but he’s always capable of changing a game with one swing.
Martinez is batting .296 with an .875 OPS now in Triple-A, and while this was just his second home run of the season, there’s 30-plus in his bat if he gets hot. Two years ago, Vladdy compared Martinez to “a young Hanley Ramirez.” Martinez spent much of the spring working with Edwin Encarnación, who was encouraged by what he saw in the 22-year-old.
“He has more power than Hanley. There’s more power than Hanley,” Encarnación said in Spring Training. “He just needs to learn his strike zone, but he’s going to get it. To me, he has more talent than Hanley at that age. He’s a great, great player. The good thing is that he likes to listen. He’s making adjustments.”
Martinez is getting to the point of being a legitimate big league option for the Blue Jays. Fellow Triple-A prospects like Addison Barger (No. 6) and Spencer Horwitz (No. 16) are off to hot starts of their own -- not to mention Damiano Palmegiani (No. 14), who shook off a slower start with two home runs Wednesday -- but Martinez’s potential ceiling doesn’t have many rivals in this organization.
This is a classic case of “if it all clicks …,” but if it does, this is what Martinez is capable of.
Keegan Matheson covers the Blue Jays for MLB.com.