Kansas State baseball junior Maximus Martin was selected as the Golden Spikes Award Player of the Week by USA Baseball on Monday, becoming the first player in school history to earn the weekly award.
In addition to the national honor, Martin was voted the Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Week, a week removed from being named the conference’s Player of the Week. Martin continued to earn weekly honors on Tuesday, being named the Brooks Wallace Award Player of the Week by the College Baseball Foundation.
The Brooks Wallace award, which honors the nation’s most outstanding shortstop, is the first in Martin’s respective career while he is the first-ever K-State player to earn the weekly honor.
The Brooks Wallace Award is presented annually to honor the nation’s top shortstop as a tribute to Brooks Wallace, a former Texas Tech Red Raiders from 1977-80 who passed away at age 27 after a courageous battle with leukemia. Prior to 2009, the award recognized the national player of the year.
Martin’s honors follow a blazing weekend at the plate, rising to the second-best slugging percentage (1.143) and third-best batting average (.524) in Division I.
The product of Edgewater Park, N.J, turned in a scorching 2.714 OPS, launching five home runs and tallying 12 RBI in the Wildcats three-game weekend series sweep of William & Mary. Entering Tuesday’s contest at Creighton, Martin led the Big 12 with a season 1.735 OPS.
“He’s on a stretch that I have very rarely seen in my career,” head coach Pete Hughes said after the series finale.
Martin became the first player since 2018 to drive in eight RBI in a single game, while achieving the first multi-homer game this season for K-State with his first-inning grand slam and three-run homer in the second on Saturday.
“It’s definitely exciting because this is only my first series at home here,” Martin told K-State Athletics. “I’d never really gotten to play at home where there’s a bunch of fans and a bunch of people supporting you. I take my at-bats knowing there’s a whole lot of people there supporting you. That makes it a lot more special. I promise you, every time I hit a home run here, I’ll throw up the Powercat sign to the fans. It’s special.”
In the series finale, Martin homered in his fourth consecutive game with another two-homer game, which marked the third straight game with a home run in the first inning. He finished 5-for-5 on the day, falling short of a triple of completing the cycle.
“I’m blessed to be alive and blessed to still be playing baseball,” Martin said. “I try not to get too big of a head with everything and try to take it pitch by pitch and see what happens. I’m trying to just stay level-headed and appreciate playing.”
A transfer from Georgia State and Rutgers, Martin has filled the shoes of the Wildcats’ former first-round shortstop Kaelen Culpepper who was taken 21st overall by the Minnesota Twins in the 2024 MLB Draft.
“He’s super-talented,” Hughes said. “There’s more in there. There’s more to his game that can get to the level we’re wanting right now, which could be a five-tool guy. We’re all learning and all growing, and he’s doing that at an accelerated rate just getting big hits. He could also be a dynamic base runner. We haven’t seen that yet. He’s super-talented defensively. He needs to clean up some things and play at a standard I think he can play at. It’s definitely there.”
K-State hit the road for a couple of midweek matchups at Creighton (7-4) and Omaha (4-10) on Tuesday and Wednesday. The ‘Cats will open Big 12 play at Tointon Family Stadium on Friday with a three-game series against Utah (11-3).
