After winning eight of nine, the Minnesota Twins have gone 1-9 in their last 10 games, lowering their record to 12-16. It's become a familiar pattern for the Twins to experience a downturn after a hot streak, as Minnesota had 12+ game winning streaks in 2024 and 2025 but failed to make the postseason in both years. Despite the Twins' overall rough first month of the season, outfielder Austin Martin's breakout performance has been one of the few bright spots for Minnesota in 2026.
Martin, whom the Twins acquired as part of the José Berríos trade in July 2021, began the season as Minnesota's primary starting left fielder against lefties and has recently earned more starts against righties. He's reaching base at an unbelievably high clip. In 76 plate appearances this season, the outfielder has a .500 on-base percentage and a .327 batting average with one homer, four doubles, six RBI and a pair of stolen bases. Martin, who has started two games in center field and three in right field this season, leads the Twins in fWAR (0.9) and ranks second on the team in bWAR (1.1) behind right-handed starting pitcher Taj Bradley (1.2).
Martin is proving he's worthy of starting against righties regularly
Even though Martin began the year as a platoon bat, he's proving he's worthy of being in the lineup regularly. He has a .333/.510/.472 slash line in 51 plate appearances against southpaws this season and a .316/.480/.421 slash line in 25 plate appearances against righties. Martin has a strong 17.1% strikeout rate (76th percentile), 11.5% chase rate (100th percentile) and 16.5% whiff rate (89th percentile). He has a low 86 mph average exit velocity (10th percentile), but he's consistently squaring balls up and drawing walks. Martin's .405 BABIP will likely regress, but he's still showing he can be an elite hitter despite his lack of power.
Defensively, Martin has one Out Above Average (OAA) this season at left field. Last year, he posted 3 OAA in left field and -2 OAA in center. The Twins may plan to use Martin in center occasionally throughout the season to give Buxton rest, which could hurt his overall defensive metrics. But he appears to be an above-average corner outfielder. The former Blue Jays prospect has also logged MLB innings at second base. Not to mention, Martin possesses decent speed (27.6 mph average sprint speed) and has slightly above-average arm strength.
Martin ➡️ Jeffers = Out pic.twitter.com/5aQt89926p
— Twins.TV (@twinstv) April 25, 2026
Martin has been a nice surprise on a team that has been expectedly subpar. If Martin continues his tear at the plate, he may just represent the Twins in the 2026 All-Star Game.
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