Twins’ Austin Martin making most of opportunity
Austin Martin s season didn t start how he would have liked it to have but he s certainly not letting that affect how he s finishing it The utilityman was one of the final cuts in camp sent down to Triple-A when the Twins initially opted to carry DaShawn Keirsey Jr on the Opening Day roster over him He likely would have been up in the early weeks of the season anyways if not for a hamstring strain suffered at Triple-A just days into the season The day he returned from the injured list he aggravated that same hamstring again Martin didn t return until June He didn t reach the majors again until Aug after the Twins had traded away about percent of their roster opening up an opportunity for him that he was determined to capitalize on It s something that I feel like I needed to do was just kind of prove to everybody here what I m capable of doing Martin disclosed His manager has certainly taken notice Twice on Monday Rocco Baldelli mentioned Martin unprompted heaping praise onto the -year-old who entered play on Tuesday hitting with a on-base percentage and a OPS a number that is percent above the league-average hitter As the Twins shift to a more aggressive approach on the bases Baldelli has praised Martin and pointed to him as someone whom he thought would really take advantage of the style of play the Twins are implementing Affair in point Martin aggressively came home on a shallow sacrifice fly in the eighth inning on Monday beating out the throw Austin Martin s continued to do real good things for us Baldelli disclosed The competitiveness of his at-bats it s pretty great right now He s not chasing anything out of the zone He s barreling stuff up in the zone He s running the bases good Martin reached base three times on Monday and scored each time collecting a pair of hits and a walk In his first eight games this month the utilityman has drawn five walks to go with his eight hits He has done that while providing selected defensive versatility playing in center left and at second base since being recalled He s maybe reaching that point where it s kind of coming together for him at the major league level But it s not like make believe because he has proven it Baldelli revealed He has proven that he can do it at the minor league level at a very high level Then that shows you that what you re seeing here might not be something that goes away It might stay Lewis reps Vikings Royce Lewis wore a purple band around one arm and a yellow arm sleeve on the other along with a yellow belt on Tuesday night His accessories matched his custom-made Vikings cleats that he broke out on Monday night in honor of their season opener He plans to wear them on Vikings contest days throughout the rest of the season and then perhaps frame the shoes once the season concludes I m adopting a football unit the third baseman proclaimed I ve perpetually done fantasy football so this is my first year being a Vikings fan per se Maybe last year too But I really like Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson and what they ve got going on over there Briefly Reliever Brooks Kriske cleared waivers and accepted his assignment to Triple-A Kriske was designated for assignment over the weekend Taj Bradley will get the start for the series finale in Anaheim Calif on Wednesday afternoon Bradley gave up four runs in five innings his last time out Byron Buxton was in the starting lineup Tuesday after missing Monday s contest following a hit by pitch in Sunday s series finale in Kansas City
