JT Martine takes flight with Orioles as catcher

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This article was published 13/07/2024 (662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With no place to play once he finished his final 18-and-under AAA season with the Brandon Marlins last summer, and not ready to be involved in senior baseball, Joshua Tanner, or JT, Martine used his baseball contacts to find a junior team to play on.

That turns out to be the Pembina Valley Orioles playing out of the Manitoba Junior Baseball League, with Martine’s home diamond in Winkler at Arctic Field.

“I was picked up last season to play at westerns by South Central, and coach Paul Schaak gave my name to the Orioles coach, there was a phone call, and that’s how I found myself playing in Winkler for the Orioles,” the 18-year-old explained.

Standing five-foot-seven — nearly five inches shorter than his younger brother Junior Martine, who pitches and plays infield for his father and coach David Martine on this year’s edition of the 18U AAA Brandon Marlins — JT is enjoying playing for his junior team in Winkler, with the entire family often in the stands for home games.

“I am more of a catcher now with the Orioles when I’m not playing centre field,” he said. “I’m one of two catchers, so this gives the regular catcher more time to pitch, which he’s doing more of this season. I’ve had a chance to pitch, too, starting two games and coming in for relief in another.”

Having played hockey up to U13, Martine’s passion for baseball comes from his father’s influence on the ball diamond. He started playing around age four or five, and dad has been there since Day 1, and taught him how to swing the bat, and get on base.

While catching is a relatively new position for Martine, he did go behind the plate for five games last season with the 18U AAA Marlins.

“It sure is a big change for me catching all the time with the Orioles,” he said. “I found it hard first, but I’m not complaining anymore because it’s a lot of fun doing it now.

“Learning the signals for the different pitchers, and what they like to throw, and how they use their pitches was hard at first, but I’ve now got used to it.”

While he leads his team in stolen bases, Martine is only batting .270, with four doubles and 11 singles on his junior baseball resume as fifth-place Pembina Valley (11-13) take on the fourth-place St. Jame’s A’s (15-9) starting this weekend in a best-of-three series as the MJBL begins the post-season.

Compared to playing high school ball with the Neelin Spartans, or with the Marlins AAA program since 13U, Martine has also had to learn the tendencies of opposing batters after each at-bat, and relay pitching options to his hurlers the next time that batter returns to the plate.

“I’ve got to learn what batters are doing, then react in-game to what they did the previous at-bat, then figure out what the pitcher needs to throw,” he said of the cerebral part of the game as a catcher.

Blocking the plate ready to tag an incoming runner from third base or firing a strike to second to stop a base stealer are the physical part of the game Martine just reacts to when he puts on his catcher’s gear.

If the Orioles manage to sweep the A’s in two games, or win it 2-1, Martine knows the next round of playoffs will not be easy as Pembina Valley will then face the first-place Carillon Sultans.

While Martine has new baseball coaches he’s under the tutelage with during practice sessions in Winkler, he still welcomes advice from dad when he’s watching from the sidelines as a fan, not a coach.

“He still offers me advice, and tells me when I mess up especially when it comes to my batting,” he offered. “He lets me know the little pointers that will help me when I’m batting.

“He knows I like to jump, or lunge forward, which I tend to do when I am batting. He tells me not to do it because when I do, I’m chopping down on the ball.”

Has Martine noticed a difference playing in the MJBL versus when he played for his dad on the 18U AAA Marlins, or with the inaugural 13U AAA Marlins team?

“The pitchers throw a lot harder,” he said. “I’ve seen some of the pitchers throwing in the 90s.”

While he never thought about using his love of baseball and education and going south to North Dakota or other U.S. states like Boissevain’s Griffin Albrecht or Nesbitt’s Connor Martin, Martine will keeping playing baseball when he’s done his studies at Brandon University, where he’s going into this second year this fall, majoring in physics and minoring in mathematics.

An engineering career might be in the offing by the time he’s completed his post-secondary education, so once’s he’s done with junior ball, then Martine might turn his attention to playing in the Brandon Senior AA Baseball League.

But for now, he’s flying high wearing his Orioles’ uniform and quarterbacking the Pembina Valley defence from behind the plate wearing a mask, chest and leg protectors, and handling a catcher’s mitt.

» jxavier@brandonsun.com

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