Longtime switch-hitter Victor Martinez decided that after Saturday’s matchup between the Detroit Tigers and the Kansas City Royals, he will call it a career.
The 16-year veteran played for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, and Detroit Tigers over the course of his illustrious Major League career. In his final game, Martinez went 1-1 before being lifted for a pinch-runner.
What a career it has been for him, though. Always being overlooked due to hitting behind the likes of Jim Thome, Travis Hafner, David Ortiz, and Miguel Cabrera, it was very easy to lose track of how Martinez performed each and every year of his career.
Typically running into a player who was never considered the best of the generation, it becomes very easy to completely write off their Hall of Fame chances. But for Martinez, there definitely may be an exception put into place. Despite being an All-Star just five times in his career, Martinez eclipsed the 20 home run mark seven times, and the 100 RBIs mark five times. On top of that, his eight seasons of a .300 batting average or better- including two seasons of hitting above .330 left him with a .295 career average.
But despite all of that, he only won a silver slugger three times, and never once won an MVP award. So what makes Martinez an interesting case for Hall of Famer status?
Wherever he’s gone, he’s been nothing but a guy who can just flat out mash a baseball. Over the course of his entire career, his soft exit velocity percentage sits at just 13.2 percent. Which means that 86.8 percent of the time Martinez put the ball in play in his career, he was able to make it relatively challenging for opposition to make a play on him.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean much if he strikes out a lot—however, he didn’t. His career strikeout rate was just 10.9 percent. Entering his final day as a Major Leaguer, in 7,297 at-bats, he struck out just 891 times, while walking 730 times in 8,166 plate appearances. His career slash-line sits at .295/.359/.455, with 246 home runs and 1,178 runs batted in. Nothing outrageous, but he’s had an insanely steady career for 16 years.
Born and raised in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, Martinez is a part of a fraternity of Venezuelan-born baseball players including Luis Aparicio, Andres Galarraga, and Miguel Cabrera. This is a fraternity laced with baseball excellence, and Martinez is no exception. Even though he might find himself being a member of the ‘Hall of Very Good’ and not the Hall of Fame, it doesn’t take away from the wonderful impact he has had on the game of baseball.
His show up and ball out play style he brought to the ballpark each and every night was never questioned and although he never once was an MVP, he definitely was one of those hitters that you absolutely feared whenever he stepped into the box. He’s one of the best switch-hitters to ever play, the one-time Red Sox will be missed in the game of baseball.
From his first year to his last, Martinez was a true professional, and his personality was exactly what you’d like out of a franchise player, and league cornerstone.
Good luck in retirement, Victor. Your presence was always felt, even if not always recognized.
