5 things to know about new Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez
Hours after Red Sox ownership addressed the media at Fort Myers with confidence, the team pulled through with a major deal.
Boston and right fielder J.D. Martinez have reportedly agreed to a five-year, $110 million contract following months of anticipation and weeks of negotiation. The hope is the addition of Martinez will bring much needed power to the Red Sox lineup — an offseason priority for president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.
Martinez’s stats indicate he could very well be the guy to solve the team’s woes at the plate. The 30-year-old slugger hit 45 home runs and logged 104 RBI last season, splitting his time with the Tigers and Diamondbacks. He also had a .690 slugging percentage — the highest of any MLB hitter since Barry Bonds in 2004.
Over the past four seasons, only Angels center fielder Mike Trout boasts a better cumulative slugging percentage than Martinez.
Here’s what else you need to know from his seven years in the majors:
He and David Price used to be teammates.
Martinez and Price overlapped for parts of the 2014 and 2015 seasons while the two were both in Detroit. Price — who signed a seven-year, $217 million contract with the Red Sox in December 2015 — was apparently onboard with the idea of a potential Tigers reunion.
“I’ve talked to him a couple of times,” he told reporters in Fort Myers last week. “I told him we’d love to have him here. He knows that.”
While Price had no problem recruiting his former teammate to Boston, he also warned him about the city’s fan base.
“I told J.D. he will love the guys here in this clubhouse, but I also told him he’ll get booed,” the starting pitcher said, via USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. “He’s a quiet, soft-spoken guy, but he’ll handle it. Besides, everyone gets booed. I heard Big Papi got booed many times in Fenway.”
He has never hit a home run at Fenway Park.
Despite an impressive .444 batting average over the course of seven games at Fenway Park, Martinez has yet to hit a home run out of Boston’s historic ballpark. He is 12-for-27 with two doubles and two walks. At Yankee Stadium, Martinez has three home runs, two doubles, and seven RBI in 41 plate appearances.
One of Martinez’s most memorable outings as a pro came against the Dodgers in September. Driving in six runs, he became just the 18th player in league history to hit four home runs in a single game.
As Diamondbacks utility man Chris Hermann put it, “every time he steps in there, you feel like something good is going to happen.”
His nickname is Flaco.
For the inaugural Players Weekend this past August, Martinez proudly wore “Flaco” atop the back of his jersey. His late mentor, Paul Casanova, gave him the nickname when he was 10 years old because of his “stick figure”-like physique. “Flaco” means “skinny” in Spanish.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYPJd6HBdTK/?hl=en&taken-by=jdmartinez28
He completely revamped his swing early on in career.
Unsatisfied with his mediocre start in the majors, Martinez decided to radically modify his swing after watching film of his former Astros teammate Jason Castro.
“I thought, ‘Dang! His swing is so much different than mine,’” he said, via FOX Sports. “I watched his swing a lot on video and then started watching the swings of great hitters. The one I watched the most was Miguel Cabrera because his has a commonality to all great swings.”
“I decided to change my swing — completely.”
Martinez said the biggest change he made was with his stance. While he used to hold his hands up high and had “an early foot stride with a wide stance,” the slugger decided to lower his hands and adopt a “smoother stride with a straighter stance.” Throughout the 2014, he continued to make minor adjustments to best understand how to optimize the changes.
He decision clearly paid off, as his statistics from his first three seasons with the Astros essentially doubled the following three seasons with the Tigers. In 2013, he recorded 74 hits, seven home runs, and 36 RBI. In 2014? He had 139 hits, 23 home runs, and 76 RBI. His batting average improved from .272 to .358, while his slugging percentage also increased from .378 to .553.
“The reality is that J.D. did something that is very, very uncommon. He turned himself from a 4-A player into an All-Star,” scout Greg Brown told the Boston Globe‘s Alex Speier.
He’s a Patriots fan.
Unlike another free agent who signed with the Celtics in July, Martinez appears to have no issue with New England’s beloved quarterback Tom Brady.
The Miami native has expressed his fandom on Twitter on the multiple occasions. After the Patriots overcame their 28-3 deficit against the Falcons, Martinez tweeted, “I’m officially a believer Tom Brady!! Greatest football player of all time!”
Lets go Brady!!!
— J.D. Martinez (@JDMartinez28) February 6, 2012
I’m officially a believer Tom Brady!! Greatest football player of all time!
— J.D. Martinez (@JDMartinez28) February 6, 2017
Justin Timberlake 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 #PepsiHalftime Now it’s time for Tom to bring them back 🙌🏻#bradysbunch #gopats
— J.D. Martinez (@JDMartinez28) February 5, 2018
Watch: Hanley Ramirez on J.D. Martinez
