Historic season earns Goldeyes' Martin all-star honours

Kyle Martin. Photo: Winnipeg Goldeyes

September 7, 2021

By Steve Schuster

Winnipeg Goldeyes

WINNIPEG, MB – For a second consecutive year, Winnipeg Goldeyes’ first baseman Kyle Martin has been voted the American Association’s Postseason All-Star at first base.

Martin played in all 99 of Winnipeg’s games in 2021, hitting .280 with 25 doubles, 31 home runs, and 106 RBI. The 106 RBI set both a Goldeyes and American Association single-season record. The 31 home runs are also a new Goldeyes record, and rank tied for second on the American Association list.

The Greenville, S.C., native finished tied for sixth in the league in runs scored (76), tied for sixth in doubles, and fourth in slugging percentage (.609). Martin also tied an American Association record with three grand slam home runs, and rattled off a career-high 13-game hitting streak from June 25 through July 10. Twice this season (July 24 vs. Kansas City and September 1 vs. Chicago), Martin ended a game with a walk-off home run. Martin even made eight relief appearances on the mound, and compiled a 3.52 ERA in 7 2/3 innings.

Since July 1, 2019, Martin has collected 207 RBI in his past 219 games in a Goldeyes’ uniform. The 28-year-old first baseman was voted the American Association’s Postseason All-Star at first base in 2020 after leading the league with 51 RBI in the pandemic-shortened 60-game season.

Martin was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the fourth round in 2015 out of the University of South Carolina (Columbia, South Carolina) where he helped the Gamecocks reach the College World Series as a freshman in 2012. A left-handed hitter and fielder, Martin played four seasons in the Phillies’ organization, and reached the double-A level twice. Martin signed with the Goldeyes midway through the 2019 season, and now ranks fourth in franchise history in home runs (61) and seventh in RBI (224).

Martin is scheduled to play for the Australian Baseball League’s Melbourne Aces this winter.

2021 American Association Postseason All-Stars

C – Ryan Lidge, Chicago

1B – Kyle Martin, Winnipeg

2B – Ryan Grotjohn, Kansas City

3B – Jose Sermo, Sioux City

SS – Josh Altmann, Lincoln

OF – Jordan George, Fargo-Moorhead

OF – Gabriel Guerrero, Kansas City

OF – Adam Brett Walker, Milwaukee

DH – Ramon Hernandez, Cleburne

SP – Myles Smith, Milwaukee

RP – James Pugliese, Lincoln

Notes: The previous American Association RBI record was 103, held by Cesar Nicolas of the Grand Prairie AirHogs in 2009…Juan Diaz held the Goldeyes record with 90 RBI in 2009…Sean Hearn (1998) and Diaz (2009) held the previous Goldeyes home run mark with 29…Milwaukee’s Adam Brett Walker set a new American Association record with 33 home runs this season…Martin is now tied with Keon Barnum (Chicago, 2019) for second on the league’s single-season list