Juan Martín

Note: This page discusses former minor league catcher Juan Martín. For his fellow Argentin Juan Cruz Martín, click here.

Juan Francisco Martín

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 215 lb.

• Born December 5, 1990 in Buenos Aires Argentina

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Catcher Juan Martín signed with the Tampa Bay Rays in February 2009. He hit .280/.341/.331 for the DSL Rays that year. He helped the Argentinian national team win the Bronze Medal at the 2010 South American Games. For the 2010 DSL Rays, Juan slumped to .192/.310/.219 with 25 strikeouts in 73 AB. He rejoined Argentina for the 2010 Pan American Games Qualifying Tournament, going 1 for 11 with 3 walks. He helped Argentina win Gold in the 2011 South American Championship. He led the 2012 South American Championship with a .600 average and six runs as Argentina took home the Gold. He scored the last run in the 2013 South American Championship as Argentina again won a Gold.

Signing with the Mannheim Tornados for 2014, he hit .311/.371/.408 with 19 RBI in 28 games, fielding .983 and throwing out 34.7% of opposing stealers. He was second in the southern Bundesliga-1 in percentage gunned down, behind Simon Gühring. He played for Argentina in the 2015 South American Championship. He hit even better for Mannheim in '15 - .375/.402/.475, 20 R, 22 RBI in 28 G. He fielded .988 and caught 23.8% of those who tried to steal. He was 5th in the league in hits (45).

In 2015-2016, he hit .556 for Peel in a minor Australian league, leading in average. For 2016, he became player-manager of Mannheim. He continued to hit very well (.362/.435/.543, 27 RBI in 28 G), fielding .975 but only catching 14.3% of runners who tried to steal. Mannheim went 14-14. He finished 10th in the league in average (between Max Boldt and Jamie McOwen), 6th in RBI, tied Boldt for 3rd in hits (42), tied Maik Ehmcke for third in doubles (10) and was 10th in slugging.

He helped Argentina to a Silver Medal in the 2016 South American Championship, hitting .400/.423/.480 with 6 runs and 7 RBI in 7 games; only Eduardo Zurbriggen drove in more for Argentina. For Mannheim in 2017, he hit .308/.345/.538, fielded .959 and allowed 5 steals in 7 tries. In the 2018 South American Championship, he was a catcher-first baseman for Argentina, batting .450/.542/.600 with 5 runs in 6 games. He was third on the teams in runs behind Jacinto Cipriota and Sebastián García. In the Gold Medal Game, against defending champion Brazil and with a spot in the 2019 Pan American Games at stake, he played first and hit 5th, going 2 for 5 with a RBI as Argentina prevailed. For the event, he ranked 4th in slugging (behind Felipe Burin, Alex Yun and Cipriota), 4th in average (between James Sommerville and Tiago Magalhães), tied for second in extra-base hits (3 behind Burin), 3rd in hits (9, behind Cipriota and Burin) and tied Cipriota and Burin for the most doubles (3).