Player Name:Kyle Martin
School: Oceanside
Position: RHP/ SS
Kyle is a 2016 graduate of Oceanside HS. He is listed at 6’3″ 195 lbs. He is headed to Fordham in the fall as a two-way player.
He begins his motion with a long step back with his hands held letter height. He has a bit of a unique balance position as he hunches over while his leg is about belt height. He drops off his back side significantly, which makes him a classic drop & drive type of pitcher. He does not have a long stride, but he stays closed until the very last moment which allows him to generate a tremendous amount of torque as he rotates. He also lands with his front foot slightly closed, which is not textbook pitching but it does create a very difficult uncomfortable angle for the batter. His arm angle is a high 3/4 delivery. His momentum causes him to land to the first base side, but he gets good extension on his pitches.
In his April 14 start, he dominated to the tune of a 15-K, three-hit shutout over a very dangerous team. He walked three batters. He threw 118 pitches, 68 percent for strikes. He used only a fastball and breaking ball mix. The fastball sat in the 85-86 MPH range. His breaking ball moved as a slider, it was lethal on this evening inducing four of his 15 strikeouts.
He ran into trouble immediately in this game when he walked the first batter on four pitches. He allowed a single to the next batter on 2-2 fastball. He settled in and struck out the third-place hitter on a nasty slider off the outside corner. It was the type of pitch that no high school hitter could hit and they recognize it as a strike on the outside corner but it sweeps outside and they flail aimlessly. He blew away the next hitter on a high fastball. He induced a 4-3 ground out after falling behind 2-0 but coming back and throwing three straight quality pitches.
In the second inning, he struck out the first batter looking on a fastball on three straight pitches. He induced a 1-3 ground out to the next batter. He showed his agility coming off the mound and fired a perfect strike to first. He struck out the next batter on a 1-2 high fastball.
The third inning is where he ran into his only jam. He allowed an infield single to SS, he walked the next batter and allowed another single, this one to right field. He got tough with the middle of the order due up. He got ahead 0-1 on a fastball, missed away with a slider, missed high with a fastball, got even on a fastball looking and then blew him away with a high fastball. He then struck out the next batter after falling behind 0-1 on a slider. He came back with two fastballs that the batter took for strikes before blowing him away with a high fastball. He struck out the next batter on an 0-2 fastball down the middle. It was an impressive display of toughness against some quality hitters and he flexed his muscles.
He worked around a 1-out walk in the fourth inning and struck out the ninth-place hitter on a fastball.
He had an easy fifth inning. It was two groundouts on 0-1 pitches and a strikeout on a 1-2 slider away.
He struck out the first batter of the sixth inning before walking the next batter. That batter advanced to second on a ground out to the first baseman and advanced to third on his only wild pitch of the day. 90 feet away from allowing the go-ahead run to score, he got tough and fanned the next batter on a 2-2 pitch.
He walked one batter in the seventh inning, but struck out one batter swinging and another looking. In the eighth inning, he struck out the first batter, induced a fly out to center field and struck out the final batter on a vicious two-seamer on the inside corner that nobody could’ve hit.
He was a competitive force of nature in this game, getting tougher when he needed to. He showed a ton of intensity on the mound and his teammates certainly fed off of that.
The only downside was the three walks, but it didn’t come back to haunt him. The first walk was on the first batter of the game, so he was definitely trying to find his release point at this juncture.
Being that he is a shortstop, he showed his terrific ability fielding his position. As mentioned above, he retired the only batter that tested his agility off the mound towards third base. He also hustled off the mound on a grounder up the first base line, which required him to tag the runner. He did not attempt too many pick off moves, instead opting for a simple step off, but he did fire hard and accurate throws when he did throw over.
Offensively: He bats with an open stance. He did go 0-for-3 in the game and only hit one ball hard but it was a well-struck fly ball to center field. He is currently leading Nassau County with three HRs, so he is a force at the plate as well.
Base Running: He did not get on base in this game, but he did show his speed on a ground out to second base. Just about the only negative was that he barely jogged to first base on a ground out to the pitcher but as a pitcher, he knew he could save his energy in that spot.
