Thursday, June 05, 2008

Dodgers Hope This Martin Is As Good As That Other One

UPDATE: From a Dodgers press release:

DODGERS SELECT RIGHT-HANDED PITCHER ETHAN MARTIN AS THE 15TH OVERALL PICK OF THE 2008 FIRST-YEAR PLAYER DRAFT

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Dodgers today selected right-handed pitcher Ethan Martin as the 15th overall pick of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft.

"Ethan is a fantastic young athlete who excels on the mound with an exploding fastball and a sharp-biting curve," said Assistant General Manager, Scouting Logan White. "He is a terrific competitor with first-class makeup."

Martin last week was named the 2008 Gatorade Georgia State High School Player of the Year after going 11-1 with a 0.99 ERA as a senior at Stephens County High School (stats do not include last weekend's Class AAA Georgia State Championship Series). He also had 141 strikeouts in 79.0 innings of work entering the season's final series. Martin had entered the season as a Baseball America Second-Team Pre-Season High School All-American.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder was named as a 2007 AFLAC All-American after his junior season, during which he went 6-1 with 81 strikeouts and a 1.41 ERA.

The 18-year-old is rated by Baseball America as having the second-best fastball among draft-eligible high school pitchers. He is also rated by the publication as having the third-best secondary pitch amongst the same group.

"Ethan has a good angle on his fastball with late sinking action anywhere from 90-96 miles per hour," said Scouting Director Tim Hallgren. "He also has a plus-curveball that has late three-quarter downward action at the plate."

Martin entered the draft as the eighth-best pitcher - and the 16th-best overall prospect - among draft-eligible players according to Baseball America.

Although drafted by the Dodgers as a pitcher, Martin also played third base this season and hit .540 with 14 homers and 33 RBI in 31 games going into the Class AAA three-game final series last weekend.

5 comments:

Mike Scioscia's tragic illness said...

"duel"?

Really?

FAIL.

Orel said...

Nice pickup, MSTI. I didn't even notice.

Mike Scioscia's tragic illness said...

Between that and the picture I posted of ESPN's Hollandsworth omission over at my blog, I am in full "calling out major media sources" mode today.

Steve Sax said...

MSTI, I just noticed that exact same mistake. Maybe Ethan Martin comes with an epee.

cigarcow said...

oooo, I hope "Strange-Gordon" makes the big team! I'm buying that jersey.