Tyler Martin making a name for himself with FSU baseball

Part of it might be because his dad is who he is.

But Tyler Martin, son of Florida State head baseball coach Mike Martin Jr., has always liked walks. Not because he's read "Moneyball" a million times, and not even necessarily because his dad has been one of the best hitting coaches in the country since he joined the FSU staff --- preaching patience, working counts and getting the right pitch to hit for decades.

It's because Tyler Martin really likes the feeling of earning a walk.

"There's actually a quote by Barry Bonds," the younger Martin said. "He said, 'If your on-base percentage is high, everything else is high.' That seems to be true with just about every great hitter. So, I've always liked to walk. I don't know. I thought of it as a free pass. This guy just gave it to me. 'Thanks.' I don't see any difference than a single off the wall."

*** Don't miss our exclusive FSU sports coverage. 30-day Free Trial***

Martin probably wasn't the most fun person to pitch to when he was younger. Grinding at-bats, waiting for the right pitch, not swinging at balls off the plate, driving pitch-counts up.

Tyler Martin at 11 was a whole lot like Tyler Martin today.

"I was probably more selective then than I am now," Martin said during an interview on Friday's Wake Up Warchant podcast. "Just because you're going to see a lot more hittable pitches now."

He's plenty selective still, though. And he's also plenty good.

Martin, who skipped his final high school season in 2020 to enroll early at Florida State, was second on the team in both batting average and on-base percentage when the year ended after just 17 games due to COVID-19.

He also ranked 22nd nationally in walks drawn. He finished the 2020 season with a .310 batting average and a .481 on-base percentage, with 18 hits and 16 walks.

He was named a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball and could very well earn that honor again for the Seminoles, who host Pitt this weekend in a three-game series (Friday 6 p.m., Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m.).

Martin is certainly off to a good start.

In the opening series for the Seminoles (2-1) last weekend, the leadoff batter recorded six hits, four walks and one hit-by-pitch. He was on base 11 times in three games.

"Nothing has really ever changed throughout my years of playing," he said. "Every at-bat, I'm going to try to be a tough out and see as many pitches as I can, and ultimately give my team the best chance to win."

For much of Martin's childhood, and into his teenage years, it wasn't a guarantee Florida State would be his team. Even with his last name.

He worked out with the Seminoles all the time growing up, and he obviously had some talent, but it took FSU's assistant coaches going to Martin Jr. in October of 2019 and telling him that his son was good enough to be a Seminole.

That's when Tyler finally received an offer to join the team.

"You're making a lot of strides, we're liking what we see," Martin Jr. told his son. "Would you be willing to miss your spring semester of high school and come here and play early?"

The answer was an immediate, "Yes."

And when the season opened in February 2020, in Martin Jr.'s first game as head coach, it was his son batting leadoff.

Which, Tyler knows, had the potential to rub some teammates the wrong way.

"They might have felt some type of way when I first showed up," he said. "Which I understand. I do. I wasn't there for the fall season, and now [I'm batting leadoff]. That might have raised some eyebrows. That was fine. I was just there to prove that I can do this."

Plenty has been proven already. He still has only played 20 games in his college career, but in those 20 games he has 24 hits, 20 walks and 22 runs scored.

"I think the pressure (of being the head coach's son) helped me to do the things that I did," Martin said. "I think I perform better in high-pressure situations."

He figures to have plenty more of those in his Florida State career, playing for the man who taught him how to hit a baseball around the same time he started walking.

"We worked a lot from when I was 8 until about 13 or 14," Tyler Martin said. "And then he kind of set me loose. ... He wanted me to start coaching myself and feeling things in my swing that I can fix on my own.

"He taught me that from a young age, so he didn't have to be so hands-on by the time I was 14 or 15."

And by the time he was 18 or 19, he would be batting leadoff for Florida State.

-----------

Discuss this story with other FSU fans on our Seminole Baseball Message Board