BOSTON — Maybe J.D. Martinez is lost a bit in Mookie Betts’ shadow. Maybe obliterated expectations have dulled the senses.
“Well,” you say, “we didn’t bring him here to hit singles.”
Heck, maybe the Celtics are to blame. Whatever the reason, Martinez deserves more fanfare.
Because were he struggling, were he merely adequate, angst would bubble up. We’d raise questions of what the Sox are paying for, questions of whether he's cut out for this town.
Instead, Martinez has hits in 14 of his last 15 games. He’s hitting .400 lifetime at Fenway Park. He has a .405 average in his last 19 games, and six home runs in his last 12 games.
Ho-hum. But that doesn't seem fair.
Craig Kimbrel in 2016, Chris Sale in 2017, Martinez in 2018 -- hey, maybe big Bad Boston, the angriest fishbowl in the Northeast, doesn’t destroy everyone dropped in its tank. Credit to Martinez for handling Boston well, and credit to the Sox for adding someone who, to this point, seems plenty comfortable here.
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Even more importantly, credit to them for adding someone of such extraordinary ability at the plate.
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"Unreal. He’s just killing the ball,” said Xander Bogaerts, who watched Martinez hit his 11th homer of the season from the on-deck circle Monday night. “Every day. Every day. Pretty much every at-bat. I think he swings a lot early on in the count too. I mean, he’s just been huge.”
With homers Sunday and Monday, Martinez has has homers in consecutive games for the first time as a member of the Red Sox. Both were first-pitch shots, as Bogaerts noticed.
Martinez’s relationship with Mookie Betts is well known, but his obsessive approach to hitting has had a trickle-down effect elsewhere.
“We all talk to him,” Bogaerts said. “They’re good hitters. They’re great hitters, actually. You got to be stupid to not want to talk to them or not try to talk to them. They might not be the same hitters as you, but their thoughts might help you.”
Bogaerts didn’t want to divulge what exactly he and Martinez have gotten into.
“Ah, yeah, I’ll keep it with us,” Bogaerts said. “But I obviously talk to him. Not on a daily basis about swings and stuff like that, but obviously, we have talked about some swing path stuff.”
Martinez’s power the other way may be his most impressive trait. Few righthanded hitters can take inside pitches out to right field or right-center. Manny Ramirez territory is inherently rarified.
“I’m trying to see the ball deep. Trying to get the ball deep and not chase, not be jumpy, not go out there and get the ball,” Martinez said Thursday in New York. “Pretty much my approach is to get the ball deep up the middle.”
Pure strength plays a role as well.
“To me it’s a little bit of both. I think if you get to technique, for me I’m all about mechanics and stuff like that,” Martinez said. “If you’re generating the power from the right places, then, you let the 97 mph fastball do the work.”
After Monday’s 6-5 Sox loss to the A’s, the major league’s leaders in slugging percentage read as follows: Betts (.766), Manny Machado (.669), Mike Trout (.650) and Martinez (.641). His 11 home runs put him in a five-way tie for 10th, along with Aaron Judge.
Mix in the fact that Martinez is playing more outfield time than most expected (and doing all of this through a sore left thumb), and the Sox have one heck of a find. Martinez isn’t going to light the world on fire in left field (or right). His range isn’t great, and he may one day be unable to get to a ball that costs the Sox dearly, at least for that day.
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Nonetheless, Martinez has proven capable enough that the Red Sox aren't hesitating to play him in left field more and sit Jackie Bradley Jr. so that Mitch Moreland can get time at first base. Going into the year, Martinez told outfield coach Tom Goodwin to stay on top of him, and Goodwin’s made a point to do so.
“He runs good routes. He knows where to be,” Goodwin said Monday. “He knows where to throw the ball, which has been very impressive. He’s got a strong enough arm. He’s played right field his whole life.”
But is he better than Goodwin expected?
“I don’t know what I had — I had no expectations coming in,” Goodwin said. “I didn’t know him from anything. Just obviously what you’ve heard and what you’ve read about, you could go by that, and he’s better than those expectations . . . I expect him to be solid, and he’s been more than solid.”
That’s true all-around. Sounds like something worth talking about.