Phillies prospect Martinez has big upside

CLEARWATER, FLA. - Sunstrokes: Bill Conlin's random observations, insinuations, ruminations, and just unvarnished opinion . . .

* Smallish jack of three infield and all three outfield positions Michael Martinez has hit the ground running in his quest to become the Phillies' second straight Rule 5 pick to make the ballclub.

And the 28-year-old Dominican doesn't have far to go to hit the ground. The guy is listed at 5-8, 145, and to score a professional contract in the brutally competitive DR talent marketplace, he had to do a few things exceptionally well. Watch his middle-infield actions and extreme quickness in the outfield and you will see how he became an exception to the size parameters that typically eliminate lightweight-sized ballplayers. Charlie Manuel loves the kind of versatility the former Nationals farmhand represents.

Martinez absolutely killed the IronPigs in Triple A last season, so Ruben Amaro had favorable reports on him going into the winter meetings. Mike showed his range in center Wednesday in both the morning "B'' game and scheduled exhibition against the Orioles, going a long way to make two catches look routine. And he scalded a line-drive homer to left in the ninth inning of the varsity game. Put him in the lead of the "Next Wilson Valdez" sweepstakes. The little guy played shortstop against the Red Sox in Fort Myers yesterday and made errors on back-to-back, ninth-inning plays. Shane Victorino was the only certified position-player veteran to make the 2 1/2-hour trip down I-75. But Cole Hamels (four innings) and staff one-hit the Sox, 2-0.

* Joe DiMaggio spread out in the batter's box and launched his elegant, lethal swing with a weight shift, much like the start of a golf swing. Ditto Garry Maddox, a tall, angular outfielder, who spread out as wide as any hitter in the game as a way of staying back and shortening his swing. The Secretary of Defense made himself into a dangerous hitter without striding into the ball.

Which brings us to Exhibit A of the growing trend of hitters not striding: "Albert Pujols,'' Mike Schmidt said on his next-to-last day as a pro tem infield instructor. "Best hitter in the game and he doesn't stride at all.''

* Before Wednesday's exhibition, new baserunning coach Sam Perlozzo gathered the position players and delivered a 20-minute seminar on taking secondary leads. Perlozzo describes himself as more of a baserunning coach than a basestealing coach. It is an important distinction because proper baserunning wins a lot more games than basestealing. Getting a jump off a proper secondary lead can make the difference between an average runner going first to third on a single or first to home on a gapper rather than station to station.

* I'm not a big trivia guy, but my favorite Indian Rocks Beach restaurateur, Luigi Gallace, recently hit me with a beauty: Name the four colleges that have produced four U.S. presidents and five Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks. First correct answer to hit my e-mail box gets a complimentary glass of wine on any future visit to Villa Gallace.

* Another ominous bit of international news not involving the Middle East:

According to figures compiled by Baseball America, the Phillies ranked 21st in bonus money paid last year to international ballplayers. The Phils, who operate summer-league rookie-level academies in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, spent an estimated $1.6 million in 2010 international bonuses.

The Mariners top the list with an impressive $6.49 million. The Blue Jays topped the individual international top 30 with a $2.8 million payout to 16-year-old Venezuelan righthander Adonis Cardona. The Phils failed to make a cut where the 30th-biggest bonus of $475,000 was paid by the Yankees to 17-year old Dominican righthander Eduardo Rivera.

The last Phillies international signing to make it here as a position regular will be coaching third base this season. Juan Samuel was signed for a pittance in 1980. Sammy was discovered while playing softball for a blue jeans company team in San Pedro de Macoris. Sammy made the Phillies in 1983. Twenty-eight years is a long time to wait for another international position player to make it. Phils signed future All-Star Julio Franco out of Hato Mayor, the Dominican, in 1978. He had a 16-game cup of cafe con leche in 1982 and was a piece in the 5-for-1 Von Hayes trade that December. They also signed George Bell out of the DR in '78, lost him in the Rule 5 draft and watched him become an MVP for Pat Gillick's Blue Jays.

Enough time in the sun . . . Time to pound some Red Stripe.