Orelvis Martinez

Orelvis Miguel Martinez

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 5' 11", Weight 200 lb.

Debut June 21, 2024

Born November 19, 2001 in Santo Domingo, Distrito Nacional D.R.

Biographical Information[edit]

Infielder Orelvis Martinez was considered the top position player prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays organization when he was first called up to the major leagues in June of 2024.

He was first signed by the Blue Jays as an international amateur free agent on July 4, 2018. He emerged as a top prospect during the 2021 season, which he split between the Dunedin Blue Jays of the Low-A Southeast and the Vancouver Canadians of the High-A West, when he hit a combined .261/.345/.549 with 28 homers and 87 RBIs. He was named the Low-A east Player of the Month for July, a league All-Star and an organizational All-Star. He had begun his pro career in 2019 with the DSL Blue Jays, but had had to sit out the 2020 season when the minor leagues were shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic, so in spite of all the excitement he generated, observers tempered down expectations, explaining that he had much less professional experience than Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, for example, had had at the same age.

In 2022, he spent a full year at AA at age 20, one of the youngest players in the Eastern League. With the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, he found the going a lot tougher than the previous year, having to settle for a .203 batting average in 118 games, although the power was still plentiful, with 30 homers and 76 RBIs. In fact, his 28th homer broke the team record for most in a season shared by Chip Cannon (2006) and Eric Thames (2010). In 2023, he started back at New Hampshire and played 70 games there before earning a promotion to the AAA Buffalo Bisons. In 125 games total, he hit .243/.340/.496, with 28 homers, 70 runs, and 94 RBIs, but also 126 strikeouts. Still, he was an organizational All-Star for the second time. Defensively, he had split his time between shortstop and third base coming up, and added reps at second base that year, preparing for any eventual opening on the big league team.

He started 2024 back at Buffalo, and while there was some clamoring from the fan base to bring him to Toronto when the big league hitters struggled in the first two months of the season, the team brass made it clear that they did not yet consider him to be ready for The Show, and brought up more advanced hitters like Addison Barger and Spencer Horwitz before him. After 63 games, he was hitting .260 with 16 homers and 46 RBIs when the perfect opportunity to have him get his first taste of the majors came up: on June 18th, Bichette had to go on the injured list for what was expected to be a short stay with a strained calf, and while veterans Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ernie Clement could perfectly handle the shortstop position in his absence, it was seen as the occasion to give Orelvis a taste of major league routines without putting undue pressure on him to perform immediately. He made his debut on June 21st, starting at second base and batting eighth against the Cleveland Guardians. He went 1 for 3 in the game, his hit being a single off Carlos Carrasco, but also committed an error that led to the final three runs of a seven-run 2nd inning in a 7-1 loss. He did not have time to get into a second game before he was handed an 80-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball's joint drug policy on June 23rd. He acknowledged that he had consumed a banned product while undergoing a fertility treatment in the Dominican Republic.

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Orelvis Martinez

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