He’s trying to hit his stride.
Former Grand Street Campus baseball star Kevin Martir is in the midst of his second professional season playing with the Tri-City ValleyCats — the class A, shortseason affiliate of the Houston Astros — but the catcher hasn’t found immediate success at the plate.
It’s a strange predicament for Martir whose reputation as a hitter was a major part of his college game at Maryland, but the former Wolves star is determined to maintain his focus.
Baseball is a mental game and Martir knows that if he focuses on what he’s doing wrong, he’s never going to start doing anything right — especially when it comes to hitting.
“When you start failing and you start thinking too much, like, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ It’s not going to end well,” Martir said. “You can’t start spazzing out mentally, and that’s kind of the hard part. You have to understand that it’s a game and you have to stay mentally strong, put whatever happened behind you.”
Martir hit .218 in 37 games with the Greenville Astros last season, racking up 27 hits and driving in 16 runs.
Things haven’t come quite as easily at Tri-City.
In his first 50 at bats with the ValleyCats, Martir posted a .160 batting average with just eight hits and 16 strikeouts.
He’s struggled to find a rhythm at the plate, facing off against top-tier talent on the mound and in the field.
“When you’re playing in college, guys wouldn’t make certain plays and you’d find holes easier,” he said. “Now in pro ball, you smack a ball and the left fielder is going to make the catch. The pitchers that we face now, their breaking balls are a lot sharper and that’s a big difference.”
Martir has been doing his best to make sure his struggles at the plate don’t affect the rest of his game and, so far, he’s succeeded.
In fact, it’s his presence behind the plate that has helped keep his confidence at a comfortable level.
Martir has started six games as catcher for the ValleyCats and — in 52 innings of work — notched 57 putouts and only two errors.
“I love catching,” Martir said. “I’ve been blocking balls — being a wall back there — and that makes me feel a lot better about myself.”
Martir is determined to spend the final few weeks of the regular season working on his game, but he wants to help Tri-City win as well. The ValleyCats won the New York–Penn League title in 2010 and 2013 and captured the division crown in 2014.
Martir wants to help lead this squad to a championship and he considers it his personal responsibility to make sure the ValleyCats execute the best defensive attack possible. After all, they do say defense wins championships.
“I see everything and I call the pitches. So if a pitcher starts getting smoked, it’s almost as if it’s on me,” Martir said. “Having this team win is incredibly important to me.”
Martir isn’t worried about his performance at the plate. The hits will come — he’s certain — but right now he’s simply focused on being a wall behind home plate. If he can keep on building that wall, he knows the foundation will be laid for the rest of his career.
“The big thing is my defense and that’s the only thing I really care about,” Martir said. “I want to just keep moving forward and going hard. I know I’ll start to find my holes and I’ll be good.”
