Story here at ESPN.com. Personally, I prefer the take over at McCovey Chronicles.
Shairon Martis was the pitcher dealt for the 39-year old Stanton. He was pitching for the Low-A Augusta Greenjackets of the South Atlantic League this season. Martis pitched in rookie league last year at age 18 for the Arizona Giants. 34 innings, 13.24 K/9, 2.38 BB/9, 5.56 K/BB, 7.41 H/9, and only 0.26 HR/9. Also remember that he's the guy who no-hit the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic, a nifty little factoid. He's actually done very well this year as well after moving up to Low-A:
Batted-Balls | GB% | LD% | FB% | IF/F | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Overall | 228 | 34.2% | 15.4% | 37.7% | 33.7% |
LHB | 76 | 34.2% | 15.8% | 40.8% | 22.6% |
RHB | 152 | 34.2% | 15.1% | 36.2% | 40.0% |
Martis consistently puts the ball on the ground at the same rate, whether he's facing a lefty or right-handed batter. In fact, excepting the rate at which he gets a batter to pop up, he seems to take care of either side of the plate about the same. Take a look at his other splits:
IP | BAA | OBP | SLG | OPS | BABIP | WHIP | W/9 | K/9 | HR/9 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Overall | 76.7 | .257 | .313 | .351 | .664 | .322 | 1.27 | 2.47 | 7.75 | 0.35 |
vs LHB | 28.7 | .236 | .296 | .321 | .616 | .299 | 1.12 | 2.20 | 8.48 | 0.63 |
vs RHB | 48 | .268 | .322 | .368 | .691 | .333 | 1.35 | 2.63 | 7.31 | 0.19 |
He's shut down opposing batters from both sides of the plate, and K/BB of 3.14 is impressive for a 19-year old pitcher. Not to mention he doesn't seem to have problems giving up homeruns, and his strikeout rates are nifty looking, especially considering the low walk rates.
And Stanton? He's striking out 15 percent of batters, while walking 11 percent of them. He's only given up a single homerun in 44.3 innings for the Nats though. Oh, and he's adept at intentionally walking people; Frank Robinson has let him do the deed 11 times this year. That's certainly worth a 19-year old pitcher with a promising arm, isn't it?