Martin Leaves Mark in OKC and Dodgers Record Books

As part of Black History Month, the Oklahoma City Dodgers are highlighting recent or current members of the OKC Dodgers organization who have made significant contributions on or off the baseball field.

Learn more about Black History in the Minors here.

OKLAHOMA CITY — From a walk-off home run on Opening Night to notching entries into the team record book by season’s end, outfielder Jason Martin made immediate and lasting impacts for the 2022 Oklahoma City Dodgers.

The Pacific Coast League All-Star led all Triple-A players last season with 107 RBI and tied for the league lead with 32 home runs. The left-handed hitter also paced the PCL with 62 extra-base hits and 265 total bases.

After a remarkable season, Martin’s name now appears nine times in the OKC Dodgers team record book.

Martin’s 129-game journey through the 2022 season to the tops of the PCL statistical leaders lists began with one memorable swing on Opening Night April 5 against Albuquerque at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. He led off the bottom of the ninth inning and sent a fly ball out to deep right field for a home run that broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Dodgers their first victory of the season.

“Definitely one of the cooler moments,” Martin said in a 2022 interview with OKC Dodgers Director of Communications and Broadcasting Alex Freedman. “It was a great game and it felt great (to be) able to come through at the end, especially on Opening Night…A great way to start the season.

“I was able to put a good swing on it and catch it right and it went out.”

Jason Martin: Official Party Starter pic.twitter.com/cwKRKpcGGA

— Oklahoma City Dodgers (@okc_dodgers) April 6, 2022

Martin, 27, went on to set a Bricktown-era team record (since 1998) for most RBI by an OKC player during a single season.

He hit the most home runs in an OKC season since 2012 as well as the third-most homers in a single season for OKC since current franchise records began in 1998.

Martin, who hails from Corona, Calif., became the first Oklahoma City player with at least 30 homers and 100 RBI in a season since 1993.

The 5-foot, 9-inch, 185-pounder tied for first in the league with 100 runs scored while ranking second with a .938 OPS and fourth with a .564 slugging percentage.

Martin led the Dodgers with 134 hits. He had a team-leading four multi-homer games and hit one of the team’s seven grand slams.

He signed with the Dodgers as a free agent in November 2021, and finished the 2022 season also ranked among PCL leaders in hits (T-5th, 134), walks (T-7th, 68), AVG (8th, .285) and OBP (9th, .374). Martin finished among the top three players in all of Triple-A in RBI, home runs, OPS, SLG, extra-base hits, total bases and runs.

He paced OKC with 28 multi-RBI games and tied Miguel Vargas for a team-high 39 multi-hit games. He also tied Vargas in runs scored — tied for the most runs scored in an OKC season since 2005 and the third-most by an OKC player since 1998.

He was originally drafted by the Houston Astros in the eighth round of the 2013 MLB Draft and made his MLB debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2019.

He also spent time in the Texas Rangers organization, hitting his first Major League home run June 12, 2021 at Dodger Stadium against infielder Andy Burns who was pitching the ninth inning of the Rangers’ 12–1 win.

The two players then became teammates last season, spending all of 2022 together in OKC.

“When we first connected in Spring Training, that was one of our first conversations and it’s kind of a joke we go back to every now and then,” Martin said in a 2022 interview with Freedman. “Andy’s a great guy and just loves to have fun and makes it all fun.”

Martin went on to become one of three outfielders and 12 total players named to the 2022 PCL All-Star Team following the season. Votes were cast by league managers.

He also was named a MiLB.com Organization All-Star for the Dodgers.

Martin’s next season will be played overseas.

He signed in December 2022 to play with the NC Dinos in the Korea Baseball Organization.