Profiling free agent outfielder J.D. Martinez
JD Martinez is one of the most sought-after players this offseason, and for good reason. Martinez is coming off of a career year where he hit 45 home runs, drove in 104 runs and hit .303.
During the off-season heading into the 2014 season, Martinez decided to re-work his swing to try and improve his hitting by studying not only his swing, but the swing of then teammate Jason Castro among other players.
“I feel like my bat’s in the zone a lot longer, and I feel like I’m hitting the ball harder. I’m using more of my legs now, where I was more upper body last year, and I was more east to west. I feel like now I’m more north to south with my entire body.” Martinez said in an interview with MLB.com’s Brian McTaggert in the spring of 2014.
After being released by the Houston Astros during spring training in 2014, Martinez signed with the Detroit Tigers just two days later. He may have found his swing while he was still a member of the Astros, but It was in Detroit where Martinez found his power.
While in Houston, Martinez never hit more than 11 home runs. In that season, he played in 113 games with 439 plate appearances. His first season with the Tigers, the right handed batter hit 23 homers in 123 games and 480 at bats. Martinez had arrived.
The very next season, Martinez improved even more. He hit 38 home runs, while knocking in 102 runs while hitting for a solid .282 average. Martinez was an all-star for the first time, won a Silver Slugger award and placed 15th in MVP voting.
In a matter of two seasons, Martinez went from a fringe MLB player, to a star in the game. Two years after that, he is one of the most coveted free agents in baseball.
Martinez showed off his worth when he was shipped to the Arizona Diamondbacks last summer. He was absolutely dominant hitting 29 home runs, driving in 65 runs all while hitting for a .302 average. It was one of the best mid-season trades in some time because of the huge impact Martinez made on the Diamondbacks.
Martinez also lead the MLB in slugging percentage and number of at bats for every home run hit last season with a whopping .690 percentage and hit a home run every 9.6 at bats. The next closest player was NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton who had a .631 slugging percentage and hit a home run every 10.1 at bats.
There are a lot of teams that would love his services. He has proven himself to be a top-flight power hitter in the league, while still being able to hit for average and plays solid defense in the outfield as well. At only 29 years old, he should still have a lot left in the tank for teams looking to sign him to a long term deal.
Right now, it seems like the Red Sox, Giants and Diamondbacks are the teams that are most interested with the Blue Jays being another possibility. Martinez has stated he would like to stay in the outfield opposed to being a DH.
