In late May, Russell Martin officially announced his retirement on Instagram. He made his MLB debut in 2006 and the last time he played in the majors was in 2019. During these 14 years, he slashed .248/.349/.397 with 191 home runs and 771 RBI. Additionally, he had 101 stolen bases. Those numbers don’t look surprisingly good. However, let’s go deeper to see these numbers.
Russell Martin crushed 191 home runs in his career and from 2006 to 2019, 191 home runs ranked 4th among catchers. Brian McCann crushed 282 HRs in his career and he blasted 277 home runs from 2006 to 2019. Mike Napoli played in the majors from 2006 to 2017 and he had 267 home runs during these 12 years. Victor Martinez played in the majors from 2002 to 2018 and he’s a 5-time All-Star. Martinez blasted 246 home runs in his career and 201 home runs were coming from 2006 to 2018. Moreover, Yadier Molina made his MLB debut in 2004 and he has played for the Cardinals for 19 years. Molina had 146 home runs from 2006 to 2019. By far, Molina has 173 home runs in his career.
In addition, from 2006 to 2019, Russell Martin had 771 RBI, which ranked 5th among MLB catchers. Brian McCann, Victor Martinez and Yadier Molina already joined the 1000-RBI club. McCann had 995 RBI from 2006 to 2019 and Victor Martinez collected 969 RBI from 2006 to 2018. Furthermore, Yadier Molina had 852 RBI from 2006 to 2019, and so far this season, he has 10 RBI. Additionally, former MVP Joe Mauer had 923 RBI in his career and 851 RBI came from 2006 to 2018.
Normally, we don’t expect to see a catcher with good speed. However, Russell Martin actually can run. He stole 101 bases in 14 years of his career. Additionally, Jason Kendal played in the majors for 15 years and he also ran a lot. Kendall had 189 swipes and 41 stolen bases were from 2006 to 2010. Furthermore, Yadier Molina has 70 stolen bases so far in his career and 64 steals came from 2006 to 2019.
Finally, there are several memorable moments in the postseason. For example, Russell Martin crushed two solo shots in the 2013 NL Wild Card game and the Pirates defeated the Reds to advance to the NLDS. Moreover, he played for the Dodgers in 2019. Back then, the Dodgers won 106 games in that season. In the 2019 NLDS, Russell Martin played only one game, which was game 3. In that game, he had 2 hits and collected 4 RBI to help the Dodgers beat the Nationals. Martin did hit well in the 2019 NLDS game 3. Nonetheless, interestingly, the Dodgers let the rookie catcher Will Smith play 4 games in that series. But, Will Smith only had one hit and 3 walks over 16 plate appearances in that series. Looking back, I was always wondering why Russell Martin didn’t have more opportunities to play in the 2019 NLDS.
I used to see Russell Martin play in a spring training game and he was very nice to fans. It was a spring training game in early March. After playing like 5 innings, he was heading back to the locker room. However, some fans were yelling and asking him whether he could sign for them. Martin replied “Yes.” with a smile and he spent some time signing for fans.
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