In mid-December, the Dodgers and J.D. Martinez agreed to a 1-year deal. J.D. Martinez already turned 35, however, he still shows that he’s one of the best hitters in the majors. In 2022, he slashed .274/.341/.448 with 16 home runs and 62 RBI. Nonetheless, his OPS dropped from .867 to .789. As he will turn 36 in August, do the Dodgers actually make a great decision on signing him?
J.D. Martinez made his debut with the Astros in 2011. He spent 3 years with the Astros, hitting .251/.300/.387 with 24 home runs and 126 RBI. In March 2014, he signed a minor league deal with the Tigers. Martinez played for the Tigers from 2014 to 2017, he batted .300/.361/.551 with 99 home runs and 285 RBI. In particular, Martinez was selected to the All-Star game in 2015. In that season, he slashed .282/.344/.535 with 38 home runs and 102 RBI in 158 games. In July 2017, he was traded to the Diamondbacks. Martinez played 62 games for the D-backs, hitting .302/.366/.741 with 29 home runs and 65 RBI. In February 2018, the Red Sox signed J.D. Martinez. From 2018 to 2022, J.D. Martinez slashed .292/.363/.526 with 130 home runs and 423 RBI in 637 games. During these 5 years, Martinez was selected to the All-Star game 4 times. Well, we have to remember that there was no All-Star game in 2020. Additionally, he collected 100+ RBI twice.
Martinez is one of the most dangerous hitters in the majors and over the last 5 years, he was surely an extremely important batter in the Red Sox lineup. But, can he hit well in the Dodgers uniform?
By far in his career, he played 9 games at Dodger stadium, hitting .237/.275/.684 with 5 home runs and 9 RBI. J.D. Martinez probably won’t forget that he crushed 4 home runs at Dodger stadium on September 4, 2017.
There’s no doubt that Martinez is a great hitter. Nonetheless, there are some concerns. His hard-hit rate dropped from 49.4% to 41.7%. Furthermore, his batting average against breaking pitches dropped from .295 to .220. Additionally, his batting average was .312 against offspeed pitches in 2021, but last year, he only batted .211 against offspeed pitches.
Well, J.D. Martinez was an All-Star in 2022, however, looking at some stats, there might be some concerns and he will turn 36 in August.
Nevertheless, J.D. Martinez will have a reunion with Mookie Betts. Back in 2018 and 2019, these two hitters had done a lot for the Red Sox. In 2018, more than 36% of team home runs came from these 2 players. Additionally, they collected 210 RBI (combined) in 2018. Hence, more than 25% of team RBI came from them. The numbers went down a little bit in 2019, however, no one can ignore their contribution to the Red Sox lineup. Mookie Betts just turned 30 last October. They are getting older, but it will be worth watching whether the reunion will be a great one. They won the 2018 World Series title while playing for the Red Sox. Will they win the Fall Classic together again?
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